Chargentina

Instant Fun Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T12:35:00.001-08:00

Hola! The past 2 weeks have been super fun. Main reason – Mari Katherine came to visit me! We had so much fun. Only bad part was that Buenos Aires was having a little heat wave and was the hottest it has ever been in November (over 100). This made for a hot Thanksgiving and really hot sightseeing but that couldn’t stop us. We’re from Louisiana – heat and humidity, bring it on. But city heat is different. And few places have air conditioning…

I picked MKB up at the airport and we had a lovely cab ride into the city catching up. Then we found our hostel, checked in, and took off to see the sights. We did some Plaza de Mayo, 9 de Julio, Congreso, and came to my residencia. That night we met my Santa Barbs for dinner at my fave resto, Cumana. It was delicious as always. Then we went home to sleep.

Day 2 was a blur of fun. We started with trendy brunch on the terrace of Quimbombo and then checked out Recoleta. We cabbed to La Boca (where MKB saw people she knows. Really? How is this possible? There were 5 guys all in LSU shirts.) Then we went to San Telmo and sat in the plaza and drank many a beer. We made some friends with some adults at the table next to us that we continued to run into the rest of the week. That night we went to a tango show at the famous Café Tortoni, which was super fun. A combo of singing, dancing, and odd jokes in Spanish that no one got.

The next day was Thanksgiving! We went to the mall and had lunch under the Christmas tree. Then we went to my fave café and shared a big piece of the best dessert in BA. We lounged for a while and then went off the best dinner I’ve had in the city. We went to La Cabrera, the “it” restaurant of the moment in Palermo. WE had to wait for a while but no probs – they give you free champagne while you wait. Then we ate maybe the biggest steak in the world that came with like, 20 little sides. It was amazing. A good substitute for turkey and dressing.

The next day we went to Colonia, Uruguay, a little town only 50 minutes away by ferry. The morning was super stressful and miz and confusing but after getting up at 6 am, going to the wrong port, taking a cab that got lost in the ghetto, and finally getting to the right ferry, we were fine. The weather was horrible but it was still fun. We rented a golf cart and drove around all day. We had a hysterical run-in with a man on a doon buggy. We went to lots of different bars and restaurants. When bored in Uruguay, drink beer. Or so we did. We got back and ate delicious Armenian food for dinner.

The next day we shopped in Palermo, went to the Recoleta fair, and ate at my fave pizza and ice cream place. Then MKB was off to the airport. Such a quick trip! It flew by.

I hung out in BA for a day or 2. Brie went home to Cali. Muy triste. The other 2 Santa Barbs took off to travel. I was alone. So I went to see High School Musical 3, which was maybe the best thing ever. It was in English with subtitles. Simply amazing. Then I went to meet the girls in Mar del Plata, a beach city about 5 hours away. It was pretty quiet there. Also a bit chilly still. We walked around, laid out, read, etc. I spent 2 nights there and now I’m back in BA. I got super sunburned. Those overcast days always get me.

I Christmas shopped today, and tomorrow I’m off to Salta in the North to travel for a week or so. I’m super excited. It’s supposed to be a whole other world up there.

Hasta la vista.

Char

No clue why everything is underlined.

Mari Kath's arrival

Jamming out to the HSM3 soundtrack in Mar del Plata while pondering life over the rock cliff ocean lookout thing.

The Real District

2008-11-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

Now I know that “the district” is frequently used to describe the fun that is Washington DC, but I beg to differ. “The district” is by far more suited for the Lake District of Argentina. Not sure if that’s the official name, but that’s what my guidebook calls it, so be it.

Since I’m such a rugged traveler, I decided a semi-cama bus would be fine (and it cost almost a hundred pesos less). All I needed was to get from BA to Bariloche. I could make it without the pillow and blanket and 30 degree extra recline in the seat. Well, I got to Bariloche but it wasn’t a super pleasant trip. A lovely Peruvian man straight from the farm sat next to me and wrapped himself up tortilla style in this dirty blanket that smelled like horses. The movies were lame. The food was bad. But my goal was accomplished and I made it to Bariloche. Plus, the scenery on the trip was unreal. Once we got close to the mountains (oh say, 20 hours into the ride) I forgot all about horse blanket and just stared out the window for the rest of the trip. It was amazing.

I hung out at the bus station waiting for Brie to meet me. Her bus from Mar del Plata was going to arrive about an hour later. However, the time is an hour off in the Patagonia and I was all confused about what time her bus was coming or had it already arrived, etc. So I took a cab to our hostel, 41 Below, checked in, showered, and read until she arrived.

Brie came in after a long day of traveling including a 3 hour layover bus transfer in Neuquen. Then we headed off to find some food and beer. We ended up in this pub that many ads and books claim is the “party place of Bariloche”. Also written about it was “Come early to snag a booth and bring your best pickup lines.” Well, we got the booth but never got to use our pickup lines as we were the only people in the whole place. Oh well. Timing is tough in Argentina. We walked around Bariloche which is another cute and picturesque little mountain village town. Bariloche is famous for it’s chocolate and a chocolate store occupied every corner. We were still craving something sweet and ended up super splurging on a chocolate fondue at this cute little restaurant. They brought bowls of all different fruits and the fondue thing. It was so good. I’d never had fondue anything before. It’s quite fun and delicious.

We awoke the next morning ready to do some adventure trekking. We took off to scale Cerro Otto. Well, we found what we thought was the trail. We hiked it for about an hour, saw some awesome views, took pics, loved it. Then we saw that the top lookout point was waaaay to the east (maybe west, who knows. I had no compass.) So we decided to hike back down and try to go find the other trail. Another way to go up Cerro Otto is in a cable car gondola thing. Of course it was closed the one week we were there. We asked around for where the trail starts and ended up basically scaling this mountain going straight up under the gondola trail. It was impossible. We ran into this dude who let us cut through his back yard. It was serious off road trekking. Suddenly, about ¾ to the top, the “trail” ended. We were kind of silent for a minute or two contemplating what to do. I had already decided in my mind we were definitely going to die and at the very best, I could just maybe end up with a broken leg trying to get down. I could already see the News Star headlines of “Mintz Dies Hiking Off Trail in Argentina”. Brie however is much more cool, calm, and collected. Climbing straight up was hard but trying to go straight down was even harder. I basically crab walked. I scooted. I slid. It was pathetic but we did eventually make it down. I ripped my shorts on a rock while scooting. I was covered in dirt and humility. We went to the first store we could find, bought 2 beers, and sat in someone’s front yard and drank to our success. We survived.

We made it to the hostel, showered Cerro Otto off ourselves, and went to the main plaza to read and chill and just stare out at the lake. We both fell asleep, looking very hipster travel girl-esque. We went to an amazing restaurant for dinner for a well deserved feast. It was a “parilla” which is basically a meat palace. The menu consists of about 10 cuts of meat and 10 sides. We ordered some meat and a salad. It was the best ever. They brought us 3 huge fillets that were fresh off the cow farm. A huge salad. We ate every little bit. It was the best steak. Of course we went to get ice cream after at one of the chocolate stores. A complete meal.

The nest morning we slept in, ate hostel breakfast, talked politics with our Irish roommates, and then went to the plaza to wait for Mauricio.

What a character to introduce.

Brie’s family had an exchange student in high school. His name was Facundo, he went to Truckee High, played basketball, was the prom king, etc. Brie still keeps touch with him and one of the reasons she came to Argentina was to get to meet his family and see where he’s from. Brie set up for Mauricio, Facundo’s dad, to come pick us up and take us to their house for a few days. They live in Villa la Angostura, about an hour from Bariloche. It’s a ski town that is absolutely beautiful.

So we wait for Mauricio, never having met him or knowing at all what he looks like, and then suddenly this huge white tourist van pulls around the plaza and we see this man yelling out the window, “Briiiiiiiiie!!!!”

Mauricio had arrived.

He gets out of the car, all 6’7 inches of him. He wears a formula 1 racing hat, a navy sweater vest, and some hippie jewelry. There was a fanny pack. He basically smothers Brie with a huge hug and we all introduce ourselves. We pile in the van that seats about 15 and go to lunch at a cute restaurant overlooking the lake. We got ice cream. Then went on errands with Mauricio all afternoon. We went to the hardware store, the grocery store, the mechanic, etc. Then he drove us to Traful. The drive was stunning. We saw Ted Turner’s estate. Then we stopped where Mauricio owns this hostel by the lake. There were about 50 13-year-olds there on a retreat. Brie and I fascinated them. They surrounded us and asked us all kinds of questions from “What’s your favorite color?” to “Do you know Britney Spears?’ I eventually asked them what they thought about High School Musical and that got the crowd going. One girl had some little teeny bopper magazine and she brought it out and we went through all the pics of Zac and Vanessa. It was great. Like we crashed the church lock-in and got to see all the drama. Loved it.

Finally we were off to La Angostura. After a rough and bumpy ride, we arrived to the Walter’s house. We were greeted by Liliana, the Mrs., and went to a nice dinner at this great place outside. Finally we got to sleep. Quite a day.

We slept in and woke up to an empty house. Mauricio came home and then took us to lunch. Then it was off to see every pretty lake and view in town. We came back home late afternoon and had mate (tea) with Liliana and her friend. Liliana took us on a drive of this beautiful neighborhood. We went and used the internet at Mauricio’s office. We went home and ate dinner. Another great day.

Day 3 in La Angostura started with a bang. Literally. On the door. We thought Mauricio was taking us to this ski resort but it turns out one of his employees was taking us. Which we didn’t know. So when some dude comes banging on the door of a house we don’t live in, we instinctively hide. Hide. We hid. Then after about 10 minutes of total awkward “I don’t know what to do” action, Mauricio called and said that dude boy came by to get us and we didn’t answer. We faked that we “didn’t hear him and were asleep” and timidly went outside to get in the car.

He took us to Cerro Bayo where the chair lifts were still running (kind of like summer trip to Aspen). It was like we had the whole place to ourselves. We got on the lift to the top and then hiked around, took pics, found some snow, etc. I don’t have the best chair lift history but I played cool. Brie is like a snow bunny machine and is one of those cool kids that doesn’t even pull down the bar. I didn’t dive off. Success! It was so great. Highlight of the trip.

Mauricio or “Dad” as Brie is calling him by this point, picks us up at the bottom and takes us to lunch at this great place by the lake. We ate bomb chicken milanesas and had some beer. Then he sent us off on a boat excursion to the some island forest. The weather takes a turn for the worst as it always does when we get on a boat. We went celebrity status again on the boat with some teenagers from Argentina asking us 100000 questions. We got off the boat and went through the forest of Arrayanes in the rain. By this time we are so over the tour. We had also planned to hike back instead of taking the boat but the weather said no. Finally the tour ends in a tea house. We got hot chocolate and an alfajor. Then it was back to the boat and to the pier where Mauricio picked us up. It was raining and freezing. But when we got home, Liliana had crepes with dulce de leche waiting on us. Then we went to one of their friend’s houses (whose kid had a Barbie with dreads), came back, and had a little party. An asado!

Some friends came over and we ate and ate. Meat meat meat. We told our life stories for the 6000th time. We tried to explain how no one actually takes the Greyhound. It was a lovely, tiring, night. These adults kick it at the dinner table til 2 am. No joke.

The next morning we got up to go on a little family road trip. We drove to Chile (not far) but got rejected at the border bc Mauricio only has a temporary passport bc his got stolen in Brazil. So we drove back, had lunch at the house, and then went into Bariloche.

It was really like we were on a family vaca. But instead of a cooler full of cokes and sandwiches, we had mate and crackers. We went up this other chair lift to a lookout and got coffee. We went to Hotel Llao Llao, the most famous hotel in Argentina, we drove through the Swiss Colony, we went to another ski resort, we stopped and got snacks, and finally made it home. Friends came over for a pasta dinner. Lovely day again.

By this time, it was time to go back to BA. I had to meet MKB at the airport Tuesday morning. The Walters really didn’t want Brie to leave them but we achieved the impossible dream and got off on a bus to BA. Taking with us 10 jars of homemade jam, herbs, and whatever else the Walters could find to send with Brie. They were so hospitable and nice to us. And they fed us every 10 minutes.

The bus home was the usual. We got back to BA, which turned into a sauna while we were gone. I did laundry, fasted, slept, and tried to recover from an interesting, fun, and full week in the Lake District. Enjoy the pics.

Oops I did it again

2008-11-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

I'm a bad blogger. Mari Kath just left after a week of fab fun. Will elaborate soon. 24 days til Christmas.

whoops

2008-11-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

So Im off traveling again. Went to Bariloche and now Im in Villa La Angosturea with a family that Brie knows. Its so beautiful here. Lakes and mountains galore. Many good tales to tell. Will post soon.

Besos.

Insomnia

2008-11-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hola readers. How’s it going? Good here! Just sitting in the Coffee Store doing some internet stuff. Tragedy occurred and our fave internet connection “Apart 6” now is locked and we can’t get in. Muy triste. Now using the internet is a little difficult in the residencia. Probably a good thing bc I spend way too much time online.

So Maroon 5 concert in 3 words: frolic, feminine, fans.

We got down to Luna Park (also where Eva met Juan Peron, sidenote of history) got in, climbed up to our cheep seats and sat down. And not much changed for the next hour. I kind of expected the concert to be literally insane. Most of the time here when you have some big event like a soccer game or protest or whatever, the people go nuts. This was more like – oh let’s sit and watch these little pansy boys play some songs.” Which was fine by me. We stood and sang for a but then really just sat and watched. They played for a little over an hour. All the standard hits. I saw them play in high school and it was basically the exact same show – and that was almost 5 years ago. I’ll bet they are quite tired of “This Love.” We had a lot of fun.

I found my mind wandering during the show and thinking of sad things like – ”I wonder how good the health insurance these performers get is? Who employs them? Do celebrities get benefits?” Which kind of tells you where my head is these days. Worried about grownup things. Lame.

Yesterday I once again slept in til about 2, went on a walk, ate lunch at a cute café, got some ice-cream, bought a theater ticket, and went to dinner with the Santa Barbs. Typical day. Lovely.

I’ve turned into an insomniac as well. I stayed up until about 5 am last night. So then of course I slept til 2 – it’s a vicious cycle.

Tonight I’m taking myself on a little date to the theater and to dinner. Then tomorrow who knows?

I’m taking off Sunday to go to Bariloche to meet Brie. I’ll lay over there for a week til MKB comes. I’m going crazy just waiting on her to get here!

Peace out bean sprout.

Char

Roxy, Rosario, Radical

2008-11-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

It was a fabulous weekend in Argentina.

Friday, Brie and I walked down to Puerto Madero, sweated, drank a licuado (like a smoothie but better), lounged. Then around 10 pm her friend Marge came over and we had a little preparty. Then we went to Roxy. The coolest place ever.

Brie is from Lake Tahoe and tons of Argentina people go there to work for ski season. One girl she met there, Guille, who I’ve met many times here ahs a best buddy Carolina (cutest little cool girl ever) who is in a band called La Costa or something. They were playing Friday night. The venue was cool, the people were hysterical, the band rocked. We stayed out until about 6 dancing and drinking and having a blast. We contemplated a super pancho (hot dog) on the way back but decided against it. It was awesome.

Band website - http://www.myspace.com/lacostacrew

The song “Someone you can count on” is quite a hit. I recommend a listen.

At one point, a boy wearing only jean shorts was jamming out on his guitar while 2 boys had a rap-off in each other’s faces. It was great. And Carolina just hums along pretty melodies. It was great.

Many frisky men were in attendance. Lots of crazy dancing. It was a night to remember. If only we did…

So Brie and I got up magically on Saturday around noon and headed off to Rosario. First we went and got awesome food at Café Los Angelitos. They have this revuelto gramajo thing I love that is basically an Argentina substitute for a breakfast burrito. It’s toast covered in eggs, potatoes, ham, and cheese. I predict Mari Kath will love it.

So we got on a bus, slept, and woke up in the outer barrios of Rosario. We had no idea if there was a real bus station or if we needed to go get off as the bus was continuing to Cordoba, about 14 hours away. Finally we got to a legit bus station and got off. We found a cab and headed to Freedom Hostel.

Oh the hostel. That’s a whole other story. Let’s just say at one point I was walking to the bathroom and felt water on my head. It’s because there was no ceiling for that part. Odd place.

Rosario was great. It’s a small city with great parks and plazas. We also happened to be there during their immigration celebration. There were all of these huge tents representing every country from Slovenia to Russia to Greece. It was very cool. We walked around there for a while. We saw some lovely Mexican dancing.

The highlights of the trip would include a lovely lunch outside at a café overlooking the river and a dinner complete with musical entertainment and about fifty or so dancing middle aged Argentinians. It was hysterical. Brie and I were the only people there under fifty. And then everyone started dancing. It was an interesting dining experience from our little waiter who was in love with Brie, to the hostess who screamed when we came in that she spoke great English and extranjeros (foreigners – and this word I hate. It always has a negative connotation) were welcome.

We had an OMG moment on the bus on the way back involving me yelling "welcome home" not realizing how loud my music was and how loud I was talking. Guess you had to be there...

I lounged Monday basically. I went to California Burrito with Monica and Danielle and ate a huge chicken burrito. I then went to Café Martinez to read and ate a piece of a torta bomba. It was a food day. You know how it is.

Tuesday I lounged again. Went to La Americana for lunch and played online all afternoon trying to get Gossip Girl to download. Now I’m getting ready to go to a Maroon 5 concert. Who knew they were big in BA? I’ll give you a full update later on the concert.

14 days til Mari Kath comes here.
17 days til High School Musical 3 comes out.

-Char

Brie y yo at the concert in Roxy.

In da club

Beautiful Rosario

Holiday season

2008-11-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

Hola. How’s it going up north? Below the equator, it’s hot. Like Monroe in the mall parking lot in July.

Since I got back, things have been nice. We celebrated Halloween. We went on the pub crawl that started in a plaza in Palermo. Santa Barbara and I didn’t invest too much into costumes. We were very disappointed in ourselves. We all put on headbands (theirs were bunny ears, mine Minnie mouse) and called it a day. I also wore a cute black dress and tights and heels so I was also dressed as an Ole Miss girl which is a whole other costume indeed.

When we first got to the plaza (early, as always, go American punctuality) we were kind of sketched out because all we saw were these thug looking guys in the plaza. Turns out they were just some dudes on the pub crawl dressed as Mexican gangsters. We thought they were real gangsters. Well done on the costumes hombres.

Then we sat and ate pizza and drank beer for about an hour. Then we crawle don tot the first bar and greeted with a shot that turned out to be beer. Then to another bar and then another and then a disco. We lasted about 6 minutes in the club and then said adios. We jumped in a cab to the residencia. Then Danielle and I went to McDonald's across the street in our “costumes”. I’m sure we looked insane. Our cab ride back was fun though. Our driver put on a CCR cd and we sang along together.

Since then, I don’t even know what I’ve been up to. Sitting in cafes, walking around. I went to the grocery store like 3 times in one day. Oh I went to lay out in a park one day – that was productive. I learned how to use the bus. I went to the gym one time and I even went to a museum. Life is tough here in BA.

I got my hair. That was an experience. It looks fine though.

I went to see a play with Brie the other night. Her friend from home Erik’s roommate was in it. It was called “Jazz Slayers” but it was “Chicago”. It was awesome. It was in English. The dancing and singing were great. I loved it. It was like community theater fun. It was better than the Broadway tour version I saw in Memphis a few years back. And it was a really fun crowd. Plus, the Spanish accent made it comical at times.

We went to a bar to watch the election results. It was very patriotic. We didn’t stay too long as it was slammed and we couldn’t really see or hear so we came back and had our own little residencia party and watched it online with some wine. Everyone here is so thrilled. Like tears thrilled. Gobama Buenos Aires. Ron Paul received almost 10,000 votes in LA.

Today I went to get breakfast with Danielle, her friend in town Monica, and Brie at Café Tortoni. Always a nice time. Then we went shopping on Florida. Now I’m cooling down in the one air conditioned room on our floor. It is hot. At the mall, Christmas decorations are up! Ho ho ho. More like hot hot hot. But I do love Christmas. 48 days!

Brie and I went to get dinner at my fave restaurant Cumana. I got this pumpkin squash meat casserole thing. It’s so good.

Off to try to download the new Office and Greys. Love to the USA.

Char

Merry Christmas!!!

A lovely sunset in San Telmo

Our fave bar, Bellagamba

Halloween

Me and Norway

Pizza and beer in a plaza

My "weekend" in Patagonia that ended near Antarctica...

2008-11-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Well well well. Where do I begin! I went on a little spontaneous vacation. I had been mentally planning it for a while, but no one else wanted to go. I was in class with Ester and telling her how I was feeling restless and worthless and needed to get out of town. She was like, chica – go for it. Just go.

I bought a bus ticket an hour later. That left 3 hours after that.

So I frantically throw some random clothes in my Vera Bradley duffel. The cleaning lady was in our room cleaning and I was speaking in panicked Spanish that I was going alone omg and what am I thinking, etc. She thinks I’m crazy. And after spending so much time with myself, I think she’s right.

So I got to the bus station, waited on my bus, finally got on and entered German Spring Break 08. Not really, but all these German kids were wasted on the bus. Oh and we played bus bingo! The winner got a bottle of wine. My kind of bus.

We rolled into Puerto Madryn about 24 hours later. I was like, omg bus don’t be here yet, I can’t do this, tell me this isn’t the stop. But it was. I grabbed by bag and headed into tourist info office. My Spanish miraculously appeared and I got a map and tour info and had a lovely chat with the office lady about whales. I made it to my hostel, showered, and took off to see the beach.

Puerto Madryn is a small city about the size of Monroe on the Atlantic coast that is basically the hub for whale watching and going to Peninsula Valdes. I walked down the huge pier and then decided I was ready for lunch. Solo restaurant adventure here I come.

I went to a seafood place by the pier. I sat by the window and watched the ocean. I ate some salmon (it was white, I was confused) and drank a vast amount of wine. Coping mechanism I guess.

So I leave the restaurant a bit intox for 3 in the afternoon (minus grove days, duh). I proceed to nap on the beach in my clothes for about an hour. And it’s not beach season yet. I was the only one on it. I woke up a bit disoriented. Then I went into the mall and bought a wallet. How lovely.

The next day I signed up for a tour of the peninsula. The tours are pricey, but really are the only way to go see everything.

A little white van picked me up from my hostel. It was already full of about 12 passengers from Spain, Japan, Argentina, and me. Our guide Maria told us all about the animals we would see that day. We then went out on a whale watch which rocked. All of the Southern Right Wales (Franco Austral) come to the water there and they are huge and unbelievable. The come so close! I saw tons! You can also see plenty just on the pier in town. It’s unreal. Like real Sea World. I was very concerned that a whale might just accidentally tap our little boat and swallow us but the boat captain assured me that that doesn’t really happen. The whales have super sensitive nerves that keep them away or something. Watching the whales jump out of the water was unreal. They just swim around and play with their family. It was like Brucie and I at Saks just frolicking around. The tour also took us to a sea lion colony, which was so cute.

Fun story from this tour: After seeing huge whales, cute penguins, seals, sea lions, ostriches, llamas, and sheep we were in the parking lot and an armadillo walked by. The people freaked out and chased it down with their cameras. Like 30 people. Fascinated by an armadillo. After all we had seen. I mean really. They can just come to my backyard anytime in Monroe. It was hysterical.

The next day I did a tour of Punta Tomba. We started with a boat tour to see these little dolphins that only exist there. They look like mini orcas. So cute. Like flipper but black and white and sneaky. They were such a delight to watch. I took a million pics. It was like photo hunt. They jump up so fast it’s hard to get a shot. Then we went to the penguin colony. OMG. Heaven. It’s like these acres of land just filled with penguins!

It’s odd bc I’m sure you also envision penguins in the snow and ice. Not all penguins. These Magellan penguins live with sheep. It’s so funny! They live as couples in these little cave hole things. When we were there, they were all sitting on their eggs. It’s so fun. When walking around, the penguins have the right of way. So humans have to stop and wait for the penguins to cross the paths. Then we went to have tea at this Welsh teahouse. It was deelish.

Our tour guide that day was a guy named Luciano. There were 2 other American girls on the tour and we hung out a lot. Luciano made lots of inappropriate comments to us all day long and we were clearly infatuated. So when the van dropped me off at my hostel and he asked us to go out to dinner later we were like oh heck yes.

He picked me up first. I was quite nervous but played it cool, you know. He’s way hot in an indigenous tattoo man way. Not exactly Delta Debutante Material, but that makes it more fun. We picked up the other girls and went to this pub to get a beer. The night was fun but by the end of it I was dunzo. All Luciano wanted to talk about were things I could never ever type or blog about. The other girls loved it. I sat ther in my Ole Miss properness and tried not to gape. I was relieved to get home to the hostel. We all made plans to go on some big bike ride the next day. Woke up not really feeling a 30 mile bike trip with the pervs so when Luciano came to get me, I told him I couldn’t go – adios lo siento. I spent the day in town and on the pier. It was lovely.

My hostel was great. I went to an asado there and met tons of cool people. Everyone is on career breaks, which are the coolest thing ever. American needs to get these. They were all on “around the world” trips doing South America, New Zealand and Austrailia, then China and Vietnam and Laos. Omg. And they’re all like, teachers and stuff. They just get to take off for a year, travel and play, and then go back to work like nothing happened. If one of the presidential candidates would add this to his platform, I would campaign door to door.

So while in Puerto Madryn I thought a lot about going back to BA or continuing south. I really have no commitment in BA so I decided to keep on going. And it was the best decision ever.

I took a bus to Rio Gallegos and then to El Calafate to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. It was so amazing. Cold and amazing. The hostel there even had heated floors. I met lots of cool people there too. I sat on the bus by my potential future hubby. He just graduated law school in London and is from the Cotswalds where his dad is an antique dealer. Brucie heaven. Sorry, he’s got a girlfriend. I’ll move on.

El Calafate is a lot like a mountain resort town, like Vail or Crested Butte. Lots of nice restaurants and ski shops.

From El Calafate I went to El Chalten, which is at the Fitz Roy mtn range, part of the Andes. It was so pretty. The town is only 15 years old. Chile and Argentina were fighting about it and Argentina built a little teeny town first so they won it. All that’s there are trails to the Cerre Torre and Fitz Roy. I’m not normally a big hiker, but I did it. And it was one of the coolest things I’ve done.

I’ll take this moment to try to convey how unprepared and dumb I looked throughout my travels. So when packing I a huge hurry, I seemed to forget my hiking gear (not that I have any). Everyone I was with was all geared out in north face everything with huge backpacks. I had fake little ballet tennis shoes and a Vera Bradley bag (which actually got lots of compliment bc no one has ever seen one before). Along my trip I had to buy some supplemental clothes including a blue fleece with “America del Sur – Patagonia” written on the back. It looks like I work for a tour company. A puffy white coat with whales on the zippers (everything in the stores was whale themed, I did the best I could). And a red school backpack. Nothing to be proud of. Bad bad purchases, but they were necessary.

From there I continued down to Ushuaia, the most southern city on the earth. It’s beautiful as well. Most people there are in route to Antarctica. I went to the national park with some girls in a rental car. It was a stick shift so I couldn’t contribute. I spent a few days in the town. Loved it. To get back to BA on a bus was going to take almost 4 days. No thanks. And the bus to Ushuaia was HORRIBLE. It only goes during the day bc you have to cross into Chile and back into Argentina which takes hours. Everyone has to get off and go through customs. And you have to get on a ferry. All bags get searched. Miz. We did this 4 times. Oh and the guy directly behind me on the bus had a seizure. We had to pull over and everyone was freaking out. I almost fainted. He turned out to be fine but it was quite an ordeal. I couldn’t put myself back on that bus. So I paid lots of money to fly back. Lame, but better than the alternative. And I was back for Halloween, which I’ll post about tomorrow.

My last night in Ushuaia I took myself out to a fancy dinner and had lamb and wine and this potato thing. After these 2 weeks alone, I have mastered eating in restaurants solo. And doing everything alone. It was a great experience. I totally understand traveling here now. So much easier than I expected. And I know I can really do anything on my own. Quite empowering.

That’s my 2 week random vacation. Loved it.

Some fotos.

Momentito

2008-11-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hola amigos. Having a great cafe day in BA. Big blog coming soon recounting my Patagonia trip. Get ready for some fab photos and silly stories.

Nature walks

2008-10-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Hola! I am sitting in a hostel back in El Calafate waiting to go the bus station at 4 am (miz) to go to Ushuaia (not miz). I had a wonderful time in El Chalten. It´s right at the base of the Andes. Trails go up into the mountains from the hostel´s backyard. Needless to say, I´m not normally a huge hiker, but I loved it! If I had the gear, I would have stayed for a week and done lots of trails. It was magic. I took lots of good pics that I´ll post when I get back to BA. So excited to get to Ushuaia. The bus ride is about 18 hrs. No prob. You have to go through Chile to get there and I´ve heard it takes quite a while to get through the police check points, etc. Tierra del Fuego here I come. If you´re bored, check a map and see where it is. It blows my mind that I´m all the way down here.

Everyone´s facebook statuses say ¨Hotty Toddy¨so I´m guessing Ole Miss beat someone. I have no idea. So removed. The last town I was in was formed just 15 years ago. They still don´t have an ATM.

Hope all is well! I´ll post from Ushuaia soon!

Glacierzzzz

2008-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hola mis amores! I´m down in El Calafate. I saw glacier Perito Moreno today, and I still can´t get over it. It was, I think, even more impressive than Iguazu Falls. I literally still can´t believe it. Google that ice and check it out.

Well, I just booked myself a bus ticket to Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world. It´s the jumping off point for Antarctica. I will not jump all the way there though. From Ushuaia I hope to somehow get back up to Bariloche, another great Patagonia town and from there go ¨home¨to Buenos Aires. I do miss it. I miss my fave sandwich bakery place and La Americana empanadas and Santa Barbara.

Enjoy your day! Adios.
Char

Marine biology

2008-10-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hola hola hola! I´m still in Puerto Madryn. I´ve had such a great time here. I´ve seen tons of whales, dolphins, penguins, seals, birds, etc. It´s amazing. I´ve decided to continue traveling for a bit. I just can´t make myself go back to BA with so many things to see. I leave this afternoon to go to El Calafate which is waaaay south. The main reason for going is the Perito Moreno glacier. I can´t wait. It´s prob going to be a life changer. From there, I have some options for more travel. I´m considering going to Ushaia, the southernmost city in the world, or maybe to Chalten and then into Chile. Hopefully I´ll end up in Bariloche in a week or so. To get there I might can do this amazing boat cruise thing that takes you all through the coast of Chile. It´s a bit pricier than I´m used to spending in South America, but if not, I´ll be on a bus for 4 days or so. Not sure...

I´ve already gotten the email lecture from Brucie on travel safety etc. I´ll be super careful and check my email everyday if possible. It´s so much easier than I thought to travel down here. The only prob is that I´m so unprepared! I´m backpacking with a Vera Bradley duffel. And I have no warm clothes except a fleece I bought here. I think I can make do, but I totally wish I had planned for this. I look like an Ole Miss sorority girl that got dropped of in the Patagonia instead of the KD house. Oh well. It will just be my personal travel style.

Hope all´s well back at home!

BTW - I keep meeting all of these adults who are traveling for like 6 months at a time. They all get some sort of career break. They´re from Ireland or Germnay or somewhere European normally. We need to start that up in the ole Estados Unidos.

Away I go

2008-10-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, just wanted to drop a quick note. Thinsg are great in BA. It's a lovely day. I had class with Ester. I learned a lot about politics here and the political history and why things are the way they are. As I left the cafe I decided that yes - I am going to Puerto Madryn! I can do this! Solo travel South America here I come. So I bought a bus ticket online, booked myself into a hostel, and went to a locutorio to print out my confirmations and in 5 hours I am off on a 20 hour bus trip to the Patagonia. What am I thinking... but so excited!

I went to volunteer yesterday. Or to try to. And it was quite an experience. I found this program on Craig's List that helps people in La Boca (the colorful, fun, ghetto place). So I sign up and go. I walk around with this woman, Roxana, and 2 others. She takes us on a tour of "the real Boca" beyond the 3 Disney World blocks of painted tin and tango. Rough hood fo sho. She taked about how poluted and gross the Rio is (obvi, it smells awful) and how it's giving respiratory problems to the residents. She told us about the history and the living conditions and the poverty and the immigrants. We even went inside one of the "conventillos" (the tin houses) and it was not pretty. Lots of bugs. And these houses are literally tin sheds with some wood stairs. Hardly acceptable living conditions. I can't imagine how cold it gets there in winter inside a tin house. There were lots of cute, dirty children. It was quite the eye opener.

Also, my whole previous post about how fun the colorful houses are blah blah blah should be deleted because now I feel bad. She told me all about how the people who work and make money off of the boca tourism aren't living there and they just explot them. I just liked the colors...

Then we went to a "comedor" which is basically a soup kitchen. And I cooked. Kind of. I know I am hardly in a place to complain after seeing how hard life is there but omg. They gave me a huge, tupperware bin (like under the bed dorm room style) full of raw red meat. Floating in beige creamy sauce. Like a bucket of death alfredo. It was repulsive. And I had to spear the meat with a fork and then cover it in bread crumbs and then pile them on top of each other. I am still shuddering. It was groser than Old Man Garden. I know I am a spoiled little brat but this was sick. And kind of fun. But mainly gross.

Then we went to see this apartment building the co-op is constructing to house people in the conventillos. It's a big dream that I hope comes true one day, but I have to say that I doubt it.

Then we returned to the comedor to eat. Yep. I had to eat the death meat that I made. And I haven't really eaten since bc I'm still a bit naseous. It was just a beef milanesa which I eat all the time but something about seeing the process has me running veggie, Julie style. Oh the horror...

Oh and then I paid 95 pesos. Yes. You have to pay to volunteer everywhere. It's odd. I just hope the money actually goes to the right place. My teacher told me that lots of these organizations just make money off toruists like me. All I really want to do is play with some cute kids who need help. Is that so much to ask? I'll keep looking for more opportunities but don't think I'll be returning to that one. It was 7 hours of "look how miserable the conditions are and no one will help us and give me money and my life is so hard". I swear I am somewhat compassionate but I have a hard time seeing how it's the government or their landlord's job to fix all of this for them. I know I just lost all of my Democrat friends with that statement. I'm just bloggin' honest.

I came home on the bus (first time on the bus, success!) and then went to get a mani-pedi with my friend Brie. Yes, I left the slums and went to the spa. I should be thrown into the polluted Rio.

The spa experience was hysterical. The manicure lady was legit but crazy grandma giving the pedicures was insane. I had to sit in all these weird positions while she held my feet. They don't do the whole big comfy vibrating chair here. It's a plastic chair and a stool. It wasn't exactly pleasant but it was fun. And I see now why a mani-pedi only cost me about 12 dollars.

Well, I'm off to pack some more. I'll post when I return! Hopefully lots of penguin pictures!

Love,
Char

PS - Pray for Mari Kath's grandpa - he's quite sick and in Houston having surgery. Love you!

Boca, Boating, and Beer

2008-10-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hola hola! How’s it going patriots? All’s well in Argentina. I’ve spent most of the day in my bed watching all of my fave tv shows from yesterday. A heavenly day. It’s raining so I don’t feel too guilty. I’m jamming out to Midnight Train to Georgia. All’s good.

So last I left you, I was kicking in with frisky grandpa in the park.

Haven’t been back to the park. But I did have quite a scare. I got a text from someone named Gabriel, the name of my park rendezvous. I knew it would be impossible for him to have found my number. I have like a Go Phone. So I am freaking out that he has found me but in a weird haha God you are so humorous way, it turns out that the boy I met at the bar also happened to be named Gabriel. And it was him, Gabriel the 20 something not Gabriel the 80 something. Amen.

Thursday after my internship people told me that all of the computers were broken and that they would just call me when I was needed again (probs ever) I went to go to see the Madres of the Plaze de Mayo march. They do it every Thursday afternoon. It's an orginazation of mothers or family members who lost children. For a while some group or the government was just kidnapping people. The mothers march in their memory and to raise awareness. It's very moving and genuine.

The weekend was great. Friday we started the birthday celebration of Danielle who was reached the age off 22 (the year for you, also rhymes in Spanish – veinte dos es para vos).

I had my first Spanish class with Ester who I found on Craig’s List. She’s super cool and awesome. We met in a café that’s very historic and cool and basically just chatted for 2 hours. I’m going to meet with her 3 times a week.

From there, Santa Barbara met me and we trekked of to La Boca. La Boca is a neighborhood in BA. If you ever see the random pictures of super bright buildings, its La Boca. Very frequently featured on guidebook covers. It’s way on the other side of town and it’s kind of a rough neighborhood and it’s super touristy but I loved it. It’s like a ghetto version Rainbow Row in Charleston with lots of souvenirs and tango dancing. We ate lunch outside while watching some tango. Lots of people hassle you and try to sell things but it’s cool. I even volunteered my amiga Danielle to get on stage and dance. I consider it a birthday gift. It was not well received, but she danced tango on stage in Argentina. That’s cool. You’re welcome Daniela.

We walked around and took lots of pics and shopped for gifts. I had a lovely time. I detoured off on the adventure home to hang out in San Telmo. I had a beer at this outdoor café and watched the hippies sell crafts. One made me an incense burner with stars and moons. I told him that I don’t like incense so he turned it into a picture holder. I didn’t want to buy it but I felt bad but then he rejected my money. He said that money was of this earth and there is so much more and all he really wanted was for me to buy him a beer. I ran away.

I got home, hung out, and then got ready for our fabulous night on the town.

We went to the Faena Hotel bar. It’s the most fancy, coolest, trendiest, most awesome place in Buenos Aires. We got a table by the pool and everything was so hip and there were orange twinkle lights, and I drank a 60 peso martini. Very Sex and the City. Even the bathrooms were fabulous. We took pictures. No lie. It was amazing. I want to check myself in there and never leave. I’ll bet that’s where all the celebs stay.

And from the Faena we went to Fridays. That’s right. TGIF.

Birthday girl wanted a magical mudslide drink or something. We had to ask the doorman at the most luxurious place in this country for directions to TGIFridays. Slightly embarrassing. We took a cab to Fridays and had a lovely meal. We didn’t leave the restaurant until about 2. People here eat so late. I had a big beer and a grilled chicken sandwich and fries. So good. America food. Loved it.

Saturday we slept in and then took the train to Tigre, a small delta town about 30 minutes from BA. The train was fine and the city was cute. Some people call Tigre the Venice of South America. (Must be the same people who call Buenos Aires the Paris of South America. Wrong wrong wrong.) We took a boat tour. The boats work like cabs. People get on and the boats drop them off at their cute little houses. (I thought lots about days on the Ghetto Queen and when we tried to park at the Country Club…) It was all fun until a storm came up and the waves got a bit rocky. We naseausly made it back and went to get lunch. It started raining. We ate and then got back on the train. I’d like to back on a nice day and go to the market and stuff. I think Chatham is more my kid of delta town. I also prefer the raft to the boat we took. No question. But Tigre is kind of what the bayou should be like instead of what it is. Too many mastercrafts. Not enough canoers.

We lounged and chilled for the evening. No one wanted to go out due to the weather. I was sad. So I went to the grocery store and bought Fanta Light, medialunas, and a bottle of wine. Then I went to La Americana and got some empanadas. I ate them and then sulked in my room, drinking my wine. I was missing home and the big events of the weekend. A friend got married in Destin and Brucie also was at a wedding on Sea Island. So I listened to music and drank and cried and watched Sex and the City. I called my Mom who did not listen to a word I said and was prob feeling the effects of the wedding reception if you know what I mean. I’m becoming a homebody in my old age. I miss the South. And smiles.

Low point. But moving on.

Sunday we slept in and then went to Café Martinez, our usual Sunday happenings. I read and drank my coffee. I got restless and went on a long long walk. I ended up in some plaza watching cute little boys play soccer. Then I wondered to Recoleta and went to a bookstore. I bought a new book that I think is basically Argentina chick lit. Then I walked back home. Danielle’s bday was at midnight so we went to La Americana for a drink and a bite to eat. Then we came back and slept.

Monday was Columbus Day, which is observed pretty seriously here. A lot of places closed. But not the mall. We went shopping and I had some serious success. I bought this purse I've had my eye on for a while. I also bought red leather moccasins, cookie monster blue jeans, and a little t-shirt with a bow. If I put all of my purchases on at the same time I look like a crazy US navy enthusiast. I love it all. The purse is like butter. Beautiful, tan, leather.

I came back and did laundry for the first time in a loooong time. Getting the machine is a huge deal. Our whole floor and the sixth floor all share one washer and one dryer. And we thought it was hard at the KD house with all 7 washers and dryers. Lots of people went home or traveled for the long weekend so I managed to snag the washer. Success.

Then I got ready for Danielle’s bday dinner. We went to Cumana, my fave place. Our meal was so good. I got a pumpkin, corn and cheese dish. There were 6 of us, all girls. It was such a fun good meal. Then we went to Alamo do drink America style. And we did. They were showing Monday Night Football. I pretended to be all involved and that I was some huge Eli Manning fan. I think I told everyone in the bar that his wife was in my sorority. I’m sure they were all very impressed.

After mucho muhco cerveza, we started the walk home. I fell. On the sidewalk. I blame my boots, not the beer.

This morning was an adventure. I don’t know how I used to do it in college. I could hardly get out of bed. I just grabbed the first clothes I saw. I left my notebook. I was late. Total disaster. But class was great. Ester and I talked all about our weekends and some current events.

I’ve basically been in bed since then. I did venture out with Danielle to go buy groceries and eat McDonalds. My McNifico burger was delicious. The fries were good and salty. I asked for muchisimo ketchup. They gave me 5 mini packs. When I get home, I’m covering some food in ketchup and eating it. I love it. And I miss it.

I’ve caught up on so much online TV today that megavideo just forbade me from watching any more until 67 minutes pass. That’s just embarrassing. It’s like some little man inside the internet knows how lazy I am.

Off to lounge some more. I’m staying in tonight. Norway just invited me to go to Alamo with them tonight. I think Alamo has seen enough of me for this week.

Tomorrow I have class at 10 and then will probably go to Palermo. I still need a new wallet. I’ve been emailing around trying to get a volunteer thing going helping some poor people or something but no one will email me back. Lame. And my internship still hasn't requested my presence again.

Not sure about this weekend. I might just take off solo and go to Puerto Madryn. It's about 20 hrs in bus but you can go whale watching and see penguins. Not sure.

Love and miss you all.
Chargentina.

Santa Barbara carved some pumpkins

The Madres marching

Mas madres. That's the Casa Rosada in the background.

Che books, photos, magnets, you name it. They sell it. People love this dude.

La Boca

Danielle dancing some tango. Happy birthday!

Hola

So bright. Loves it.

Flags breezing in La Boca

Sitting on a bench chillin in la boca.

La Faena! The fotos didn't really turn out. But just google this place. I just checked into reservations and rooms are like 5000 a night. Guess I'm not checking in.

TGIF

Tigre

On da boat

I want this house please.

Birthday dinner at Cumana

Alamo party
22 - Danielle.

Biggest pitcher of beer in the whole world. It was like a bucket.

Birthday lover

Once upon a park bench

2008-10-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was voting day at the embassy. I woke up feeling very American. Good morning patriots! We got on the subte to go to Palermo. We walked a bit and then found the embassy. There was a huge line of Americans – most around my age or younger, probably here studying for the semester. And guess what I saw. 4 Greek sweatshirts. Like with the block letters. That you only wear for freshman year. I saw ATO, Pi Phi, Delta Gamma, and another one I didn’t recognize. (Sadly, I saw no KD sisters to exchange nautiluses with but AOT anyway.) Luckily our amigo Erik was already way up in the line so we just merged in by him. We went through security and walked in. Welcome home! There were red, white, and blue balloons. A bass brand playing. Starbucks. McDonalds. Northface jackets. Flip-flops. Blonde hair. America!

We ransacked the food tables, observed, and finally got in line to vote. The ambassador spoke for a few minutes. We filled out forms and stood in lines and finally dropped our envelopes in the big mailbox. After you voted, they even gave you a blue sticker with the American flag on it that said “I voted absentee!” (Mucho like Ole Miss and the I Voted – now leave me alone sorority clans – sticker)

The form was so basic – like maybe I just typed this up on my own computer and called it a ballot. I thought it would be much more official. I never even showed my passport! Hopefully the registrar of voters office in Ouachita Parish will get my vote. My absentee ballot still hasn’t arrived (or my debit card more importantly…) so I don’t know. That vote was more of a precaution “Federal Write In Ballot”. We shall see. I served my patriotic civil duty all the way from Argentina. You best be voting as well.

On the campaign front from BA, I would say there is absolutely no contest. Maybe McCain will get 3 votes. Maybe. It’s ObamaRama down here. Even the cab drivers are for Obama.

After the embassy, I went with Santa Barbara to the park. We found a lovely lake that you can paddleboat on. We lingered and absorbed the nature. Then we walked to the other part of Palermo that I love with all the good restaurants and shopping. We ate at Mark’s Deli (big big salads). We sat outside eating and the weather was great. Then Santa Barbara headed back to the dorm and I went to the botanical gardens to read.

So begins the saga of the park bench.

I settled down on a lovely bench in the botanical gardens. I observed people, read a bit, observed some more, watched one of the 60000 feral cats, read, observed, etc. After about 34 minutes, this dude came and sat on my bench. He was probably in his early 30s. There are probably 50 benches in the park, many of which were unoccupied. So clearly he was coming over just to talk to me. Duh. I could hardly concentrate on my book just waiting for him to say Hola bonita, de donde sos? Well, after sitting there for about 30 minutes, 4 semi eye contact moments, 3 sighs, and 2 leg repositionings, the hombre left. Oh the one who got away…

And I really wish he had stayed due to what happened next.

So I’m alone on my bench still reading and watching. When people walk by I smile at them (totally freaking them out as the only people who do this are American, no not even, they’re Southern). This old man sits on the bench across from me. He is such a cute little grandpa. He’s wearing corduroy pants, a sweater, loafers, and smoking Marlboro Reds. So cute. We make eye contact and then he gets up and comes over. He stands in front of me, asks my name and where I’m from, what I’m doing here, and if he can sit down.

I’m so internally stoked that I am making a little park friend. I am already seeing us hanging out in the park in the future or having coffee or basically recreating The Holiday with Kate Winslet and the little cute Jewish movie writer man. I see Miami reunions in the future.

I’m rocking the Spanish and he talks slow so it’s great. It’s like I found the perfect conversation partner. He tells me how lovely I am and how pretty my eyes are – this isn’t that uncommon here- they love to compliment the ladies. I tell him all about my family, friends, Ole Miss, America, the residencia, my internship. He then gives me his “card” which is basically a wedding calligraphy thing with his name and phone number. Just in case I ever need anything in the city or whatever (this also is common. People in cafés or at the gym or whatev always chat us up and ask if we need anything). We chat for about an hour and then he suggests we walk around a bit to a sunnier spot because it’s a bit chilly.

So we get up and he grabs onto my arm. I’m thinking, oh, old man just needs help walking. We go to another, much more secluded, bench and sit down. I wrap my hands in my sweater because I’m cold. He notices and says, “Oh are your hands cold? Well I have warm hands” and proceeds to interlock fingers with me and rest our hands on my thigh. (I’m shuddering just recounting this to you). And he’ll hold my hand but also at the same time do that thumb rub thing… oh god it was so awful.

So I’m holding hands with a man in his late seventies on a bench in the botanical gardens. All of a sudden the “Oh we can go have coffee, get a drink, have dinner, go to my family home in the country” talk is freaking me out. I ask him about his family and he tells me, “Well, I have been divorced now for a year, but now I have you and we can be together.”

TIME OUT.

So the whole time we have been chatting and I have been just agreeing with whatever and thinking I am Kate Winset I have really been agreeing to have relations with grandpa.

Get me out of here.

I take my hand from his and grab for my cell phone. I tell him a just got a message from my Norwegian roommate and have to go with her to dance class (What??? I don’t even know where this came from???) He asks when and I say right now. Got to go, abuelo.

I get up and he offers to walk me to the street. We get about 4 feet from it and I take off running to avoid saying goodbye. I sprint to the subte (don’t know why I’m running, old man could never catch me, he can hardly walk) and get to my residencia.

Oh the horror. It went from cute old man conversation partner Holiday style to Carrie Bradshaw in the Vogue closet with the old dude with his pants down showing her the Armani underwear, in about 5 seconds. I am scarred. For life. This was so far beyond the pervy old man at the wedding reception whose hand dips a little low while you’re dancing. And now I have this suspicion that he’s waiting for me outside because I told him exactly where I live.

He really thought I liked him. And looking back, it’s so funny. When he offered to take me to get a drink I basically screamed “yes” because I was so excited! Ewwww.

So I recovered from Park Bench Perv for a while and then went to the theater to see Flores de Acero (Steel Magnolias). It’s been on for about a month and is closing next week. I bought a student ticket for 30 pesos. I got there and waited outside along with many elderly friends (what’s with me and the geezers). We went in. My seat was center on the third row. I made friends with the couple next to me. The play was great. It’s quite different than the movie. Much more super comedy and then super tragedy. I didn’t get lots of the jokes as they were in super fast Spanish but I held on quite well. The whole thing took place in a hair salon. There wasn’t much talk of Louisiana but they were definitely “Southern”. Big hair. Gossip. Home sweet home.

Today I slept in and went to my internship. When I got there Palo informed me that all of the computers were broken and that they would call me as soon as they needed me. So basically I will maybe go back in a month. Oh Argentina. How do you get anything done?

This weekend we are going to Tigre for a day and doing some more exploring. Danielle’s birthday is Monday so we’re going to celebrate from tonight on.

I know big things are happening in America too. Not just the economy situation, which I am well aware of, as it’s all anyone, talks about here. Adrea and Chase are getting married. Now, I was there when it all began on SB2K6 aboard the Mariner of the Seas. I am so sad to miss it but know that it will be the wedding of cruise reunion century. Chalt flava. Ahoy mates! Sing a Jimmy song and drink a 7 dollar Corona for me!

I'm really going to miss the botanical gardens. Clearly I can never. ever. go. back.

Adios. – Char

After voting at the embassy

The card from the perv.

Faux-ner Doner

2008-10-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

Hola chic ahola! I could not sleep and went ahead and got up to get ready to go to the embassy to vote and hear them ambassador speak and eat “American food” and just found out we’re not going for another hour. Lucky for you that means a blog post. And I can listen to some Jonas Brothers. We all win.

So far, so great this week. Monday was spent exploring Puerto Madero and Recoleta. I also went to this wannabe Doner Kebab place. If Argentina had Doner, I would be in heaven. Doner was our Spain obsession. Basically all the “fast food” there was Turkish/Arabian Kebap. And they would wrap it all up in a tortilla with magical Doner sauce and you get fries covered in the sauce too – Oh my favorite. Well, there’s not a Doner place here on every corner. In fact I’ve only seen one. So I went to it Monday and needless to say – it’s no Doner con carne de the happy Doner place by the Abuelos house. It was ok, good even, but when compared to the Doner of Spain it’s tough to live up. Faux-ner kebap. That's what I'll call it. I also got this amazing fruit salad for 6 pesos from another little restaurant. It was a huge, like a large American cup, full of fresh cut oranges, apples, kiwis, and strawberries. So good. I took it down to the port and sat on a bench and ate it while watching the yachts. It was a lovely time.

I walked around Puerto Madero for a while. Not really sure what all the hype is about. It’s the new “it” neighborhood but as far as I could see it was just dirty water and construction. Maybe I missed the good part. They do have a cool pedestrian bridge that looks just like the bridges in Valencia. It’s called the Puente de Mujer and is supposed to represent people dancing the tango.

After that I walked to Recoleta to explore. I met up with Brie at a restaurant on Santa Fe. Danielle came too. Then Danielle and I went hunting for this cool shoe store. We shopped around a bit. Then she went home and I went to finish reading my book.

I went out to dinner with Jo and Carly to this awesome place what is so my new fave resto in Buenos Aires. It’s called Cumana. It’s dark and cool inside and they give you crayons and the food is amazing. I got this pumpkin casserole thing. I loved it. I love pumpkin. I’ve eaten it 4 times in the last 2 days. It’s a bit weird because you expect it to be all sweet like pumpkin pie but it’s eaten more just like a normal squash.

Tuesday was lovely as well. I slept in and then went off to Palermo with Carly to eat at this veggie resto that rocked. I got an avocado sandwich that was even better than the avocado delight in Monroe. I then went to the Evita museum, which I really enjoyed. I saw some of her fab clothes (so rainbow high) and read a lot about her and watched some videos and looked all smart and stuff. Then I wandered to this cool café and read the paper and ate medialunas and drank café con leche. Finally I hiked it all the way back, which took over an hour, but it, was nice out and I eat lots of medialunas and needed a little cardio.

Last night I forewent the Democrat debate party and lounged for a while. Brie didn’t go either so we went to this bar we’ve been intrigued by that’s just about 4 blocks from the residencia. It turned out to be quite a night. We drank a beer and bonded for a while. There were 3 boys at the table next to us clearly intrigued by our loud English and blonde hair. I got up to go get us more beer and when I came back, they had basically joined our table. We chatted with them for quite a while. 2 lawyers (one a partial actor as well) and a chemist. One of them is learning English so he asked us some questions. I helped him clarify the diff between fun and funny. A very important thing. Unfortunately, Brie was stuck on the other side of the table talking to one of the guys. He was quite a piece of work. Number 1 – His Spanish was impossible to understand. Something about his raspy voice. Number 2 – All he wanted to talk about was how a Socialist government combined with a super liberal society is the ideal and something about Cuba being the best (after Argentina, duh). We played a fun little game where they would say something about South America and we would say what we thought of like – Colombia – Cocaine! Brazil – Carnaval! Argentina – Evita! And so on. They loved it.

They also love love California. I told them I was from Louisiana and it’s like – blank stare. Once you talk about Nueva Orleans , you sometimes get a response. Or Britney Spears. Lawyer/actor however goes “Louisiana! Con todos los negros!” Then he wanted to know all about integration, etc. Oh Louisiana. Your reputation precedes you.

About 1:45 we peaced out but they’re supposed to call this weekend to hang out. We have to bring a third girl though because the scientist was left out. Lawyer 1/Cuba boy we can totally live without and in retrospect, lawyer/actor that I was totally wooing is probably gay. He was way into how things go in San Francisco. He was just so friendly and enthusiastic… As always.

Today entails embassy party, hanging in Palermo, maybe going to the MALBA (art museum) and - tonight. I have a theater ticket to go see Flores de Acero. Oh yes. Steel Magnolias. In Spanish. As a play. I am going to see Louisiana acted out. I cannot wait! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Mucho amor.
Charlotte

Hola Puerto Madero

My mom has been encouraging me to get a job or do something here that will enhance my future. Done and done.

Mas puerto

Street in Recoleta. Trees! BMW's! It's just like Ole Miss. How I miss it.

Pop Goes My Heart

2008-10-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hello americanos. Hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I sure did.

Friday afternoon we went to this restaurant we had heard lots about called California Burrito Co. It’s basically Chipotle/Moe’s/Izzos with the build your own enormous burrito bar. Some expats opened it. t was a lovely taste of home. I ate a big ole chicken burrito and loved every tortilla bite of it. We came back home and chilled for a while. I got some coffee. Then we were off for our asado adventure.

Asado is an Argentina barbeque. Being meat obsessed, it’s a big deal here. One of Santa Barbara’s friends lives-lives here. He lives in a real house in a real neighborhood a bit outside of the city. He is fabulous and so nice to help us out when we are confused about how to do things here. It’s always fun to see him in his little Spanish world as he’s probably 6’4 and very American college dude looking yet speaks rapid Spanish and has a real Argentina life. Very Vince Vaughn meets Buenos Aires.

So we take the metro to the train station and the train station to his barrio. Brie’s got her backpack full of our spend the night clothes. This is an overnight adventure. Prepare.

We get to Florida, our destination about an hour of traveling involved. Erik picks us up in his roomies car and takes us to his house. His house is so cool. It looks like a mini Alamo. Very college boy with empty bottles as decorations, black and white rat pack posters, pool table – hello college I’ve missed you.

We met his roommates – one an aspiring actor wearing a batman t-shirt along with a vest, the other a cool lawyer with lots of cool shoes whose mother owns one of the trendy clothing chains of Argentina. Meet Juan and Fede. Hola.

We began our evening playing pool, occasionally helping in the kitchen, downing beer and wine to ease the nerves – the usual. More friends arrived. All are very entertaining. Argentina drinking games ensued – most of the games are universal. Insert inappropriate words for numbers, categories of cuss words, same old same old but enhanced in Spanish. I’m actually glad Federico taught me all of those slang words because I think I may have won a round of the categories game when I surprised everyone with “Used Condom”. Thanks Frederico! The most useful Spanish I know!

Juan had been preparing the asado for a while now. And now it was time to eat. Oh what a feast. Maybe 3 or 4 courses of meat. Real cow. So good. Best not to wonder which part of the cow you’re getting – just go with it. The final part was this pork bacon type thing that is maybe the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

I learned during dinner that my Spanish has a Southern twang. Not a good thing. I was devastated. Stupid Ole Miss. Why why why. Sometimes the Southern thing is endearing - not in this case. I was so sad. But moving on with another glass of wine or 3 and we’re good to go.

To be honest I have no idea what we did all night. I observed, I danced, I consumed. We hung out in the backyard. We played more games. No clue. It was one of those nights you know was probably the most fun you’ve ever had but you have no idea what was going on. Lots of moments when we girls would catch each other’s eye and be like – WTF is going on here!

Eventually things start winding down at say, 4. Some people go home, go to bed. I had caught my second wind and was ready for more. Lucky for me, Juan did too. He sat me down and told me all the things he loves about America and put on a Frank Sinatra dvd. Woo me why don’t you. It was maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever sat through. I tried to keep a straight face but that’s hard to do with old batman saying – America! Such opportunity! I love Frank Sinatra! About 6 Brie came in and declared we were going to bed. Erik lent us his room for the night. We all had a lovely slumber party.

I would have to say the highlight for me was watching this video that Erik and his friends made for one of their friends who just got married. It was a remake of the music video in Music and Lyrics, everyone’s fave Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant romantic comedy, of the 80s song “Pop Goes My Heart”. It was hysterical. About 5 Argentina dudes lip syncing to the 80s tune and dancing and acting and it was amazing. Even more amazing is that I got to see it probably 11 times throughout the evening. Hopefully it makes You Tube soon and I can share it with all of you. Also hoping that Juan’s commercials are there as well.

We awoke quite confused as one does after a fun night. Where are we??.... We giggled and exchanged tales from the night before and went to go wake up Erik so we could get the heck out of there and back to the residencia.

We made it home. Napped. Recovered.

I went on a 3 hour Western Union adventure. Everywhere was closed. I finally found one and got the money my loving family sent. Unfortunately, they would only give me US dollars that I can’t exchange until Monday when the banks open.

We went out to dinner last night at this amazing Italian/Fondue place. We all got homemade pasta. Mine was ravioli filled with broccoli and garlic with a tomato basil sauce. One of the best meals I’ve had here so far. The owner, Jorge, an Italian man, talked to us and recommended dishes, and was so the host with the most. I would love to go back there again.

Quite good eating this weekend come to think of it.
We had amazing cab drivers that night. I can’t recall the name of the, once who took us to dinner but he loved Aerosmith and we sang Love in an Elevator and he told us that his building does not have an elevator so he does not make love in the elevator.
The cab dirvers here are maybe my favorite people. And they always want to talk about the American government or economic crisis or election. I could write a novel on the opinions of cab drivers in Buenos Aires about George Bush.

After we went to our fave ice-cream place. We took lots of pictures in front of Congreso which for some reason was all lit up.

Sunday today was the norm. Spent in Café Martinez eating medialunas, drinking cafe con leche, reading books. I’m a bout halfway through the Kite Runner and a third of the way through my Spanish novel.

Tonight we’re going to see a movie – Noches de Tormenta (Nights in Rodante in English). You can take the girls out of America but you can’t take the desire to see a sappy Nicholas Sparks movie out of the girls.

Hasta luego.

Charlotte (Pronounced Char like charbroil + lot like a lot but with emphasis on the lot. That’s my name here.) CharLOT.

Hola burrito restaurant

Fiesta fiesta. I'll try to find more pics from this epic night.

Congreso in pink

Hola madre

Putas juntos

Buenos Aires on 7 dollars a day. Or not.

2008-10-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

Buenos noches amigos! It’s been a super springy day here in Good Aires. That’s what Buenos Aires translates to. Not so sure that’s the best name for this city as I’m pretty sure I’ve developed the black lung due to the smog and bus exhaust. They should call it “Emphysema Aires” or something instead.

Moving on.

So I was so excited to get up and go to work today. I got up around 9, went to take a shower, and surprise! No hot water. I turned the knob for the hot water and nothing came out. So I went to brush my teeth thinking it just might need a minute. All of a sudden yellow water is spurting out of the showerhead like a geyser. I dove to turn it off and resolved to have no shower. So is life in the residencia.

I walked/subte to work. Palo let me in. I talked to her for a moment. I booted up my computer. I checked my email. I g-chatted with Will and Mari Kath. I waited for Palo to give me a task. An hour later, she tells me the magazines aren’t coming. My job was to put the magazines in the envelopes. Hence I have nada to do. I also overheard her on the phone say that my boss is in Italy. How lovely for Rodrigo. The only problem is that he’s the ne who tells me what to do. If I were going to Italy all the way from here I’d probably stay for at least 2 weeks. So I got nothing to do till he returns. Not sure when I’ll go back to work.

It’s like I’m just unemployed and living in a big city. Maybe I’ll befriend the homeless men who sleep on the street. Ask them what they do all day to keep busy.

So I left the Club del disco and the sun was shining. I decided to hike over to Palermo and find all of the wonderful parks I’ve read about. On the way I passed a lady selling dvd’s on the street. She had so many good ones. I bought Mamma Mia and High School Musical – Mexico for 6 dollars. So excited. (Not included in budget. But I‘ve been hunting for these since before I had the budget so it doesn’t count. Right?)

I continued my hike for about 45 more minutes all the while breaking in my new boots. Bad decision. Oh the pain. Darn you leather. I passed the zoo but didn’t go in because I am budgeting and have no zoo money. But have no fear! You can get the whole zoo experience without going in! By walking near the zoo you get all of the smells. It’s like seeing the elephants and hippos but with just your nose. There was a tear in the fence at one point and I saw 4 flamingos.

I find the botanical gardens and the Japanese gardens. To get to the park I really wanted to find I had to cross a street with 14 lanes of traffic. It was maybe the scariest thing since bikes in Mendoza. My map skills have improved but are still not always accurate. Hence I ended up not in the park I wanted to be in. I gave up and went hunting for a lunch spot. I found a cool restaurant with lots of outdoor seating. I ordered a delicious salad. The table next to me had a grandmother, mother, and child who was so cute. She had a Barney stuffed animal. She sang the Barney song in Spanish. “Te amo, y tu a mi. Somos una familia”. Much more tolerable in Spanish. It was lovely. My salad was worth the entire budget I spent on it. I am not good at budgets. I just feel like I deserve treats all the time. Like I had been lost and it was really hot and my feet hurt so I totally deserved to 20 peso salad. Right?

I made it back to the subte and finally back to the residencia. I tried my dvds. Mamma Mia works. High School Musical-Mexico does not. I napped. Both lights are out in our room so once sun set, our room became a cave of darkness. I escaped to the Coffee Store, read my book, ate some medialunas, and drank some café con leche. All good. Now I’ m waiting to go to the VP debate at the same bar in Palermo that we went for the first debate. Can’t wait to reunite with all of the hostile ex-pat democrats.

Back from the debate now. It was typical. Lots of booing and yelling and middle fingers in the air. Why can’t we all just get along? I still miss Ron Paul. I’m not sure yet of my vote. I’m going to the American Embassy on Wednesday to vote though. So cool. The US ambassador will speak.

We ate dinner at this trendy Italian place. Needless to say, I spent over 5x my budget today. I’m screwed. Brucie – call Western Union.

So while I was waiting earlier I wrote you a poem.

Here I sit in the lounge of my international frat house
Sorry mom but I don’t think I’m going to soon find a spouse.

The days are warm, the sun does shine, and I try to speak the Spanish
Sometimes I see things on the street that really are outlandish.

I walk around and strut my stuff, feeling a little vain
But I get what I deserve which is lots of hip pain.

From Hotty Toddy to Alabam to Hola Che que tal?
This year has been full of fun. I’ve really had a ball.

Besos.
Charlotte

Looks like I really went to the zoo, huh? I took this through the bars of the fence and a rip in the fabric. Like a flamingo voyeur.

Miracle! Trees and grass!

Bag o ramen

2008-10-01T16:19:00.001-07:00

Today was a good solid dia. I slept in (quiet construction day), showered, organized my closet, ate some yogurt, and then left for work around noon. I walked a different way that took me through “Once”, the historically Jewish neighborhood. It was nice to connect with my Jewish heritage. I found a sandwich place and inhaled a chicken sammy while standing on the corner. They need more benches here or something. Then I went into work. My boss wasn’t there today. I finished translating the web site. I eavesdropped in on the other people’s convos (totally not an invasion of privacy – it’s a learning technique). I finally worked up the confidence to say, “I think I’m finished with this. Do you need any help or anything?” They did not so I left early. But something good happened.

The beginning of the month is super busy at the Club. It’s when they mail out all the discs and newsletters. Ger, one of the guys who works there, started telling me how busy they’d be tomorrow. I couldn’t understand at first if he was saying that I shouldn’t come because they’d be so busy or that I should come because they’d be so busy. (I don’t contribute too much so I thought I might just be in the way.) I told him I was done with classes so I had nothing to do tomorrow and could come in the morning too. He responded positively so I think he was actually requesting my presence. I am going in t 10:30 am to stuff envelopes. Yay! Purpose!

When I left work I decided to go into this café I pass all the time and looks so inviting. It’s called Café, Chocolate, y Canela (Coffee, Chocolate, and Cinnamon). What a fabulous name. I went in and ordered a coffee and medialuna. Then the waitress who also is the cook and maybe the owner asked me if I was sure that’s all I wanted because she just made a tiramisu that was mighty tasty. Twist my arm why don’t you. Sold. And it was amazing. I read the paper, ate my tiramisu, drank my coffee, and felt so local. I hung out there for an hour or so then trekked back to the residencia.

While walking back I saw something so disturbing and rare. It wasn’t the cover of ButtMan porn magazine they sell at all the newsstands. It wasn’t the pirated Gay Cowboy dvds the street vendors sell. It was even stranger. Bare legs. On a girl. OMG. This is rare. It’s also rare to see feet (unless it’s an American – I am so into this now though. I never want the streets of Buenos Aires to touch my feet.)

I’ve decided I’m going to keep count. Once I see 10 girls’ legs, I can wear skirts or shorts. Let the games begin.

So I’m on a super budget until my new debit card comes. I have enough pesos to last for 15 days if I spend 20 pesos a day. So I am basically living on 7 dollars a day (more like 6.70 but whatevs). I spent 5 on my sandwich and 11 on coffee and tiramisu. Hence I had 4 pesos to get some dinner. I just went to the grocery store and bought an apple and some ramen noodles. I couldn’t even buy the cool ramen that’s already in the cup. I had to get the bag kind. They cost a peso less.

Tonight I’ll be playing card games with Santa Barbara and hopefully catching Caroline on skype. She’s in Beijing, which makes for a time difference difficulty.

Enjoy your debit cards friends. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone.

Un mil besos.

Cemetery sulk

2008-09-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

I spent today getting my life back together. I had some old traveler's checks from Spain thankfully. I started at the bank across the street. They told me to go to the bank next door. I went to the bank next door, and they told me to go to Citi Bank. I went to Citi Bank and they would only change them in increments of $200. I only had $150. So off I trekked to the American Express office.

It's located in a neighborhood area I hadn't seen yet. It was a long leisurely walk (all the while breaking in my new boots). I finally found it, waited in line for about and hour, and now have 307 pesos to last until a new debit card arrives. (If that ever happens. I hate Regions bank. Tons.)

I then walked for a while, feeling very sorry for myself. I ended up at the Recoleta cemetery again. It was such a lovely place to brood. Just me, a gray sky, a few tourists, some stray cats, and about 500 tombs. I somewhat stalked this couple I could tell was American (man had on a Michigan football hat). I lingered around them for a while, thought about offering to take their picture for them, but finally chickened out. I was starved for smiling American interaction. Ijust wanted to talk to someone happy.

I eventually got it together and went on a lunch hunt. I found this cute little cafe. I sat in the corner to weep and people watch. I got this cool pumpkin and chicken quiche thing. Then this family came in and sat next to me. They were from BA. A mother and father in their late 50s I'd guess and their son (28-30?) I passed them a menu bc they didn't have one and the lady struck up a convo with me.

It was a lovely convo about the USA, Louisiana, Obama v McCain (they think McCain is too old and sick to be president), my internship, and more. My Spanish was rocking. It was a lovely pick me up in this time of distress.

I left (the son did not ask me out. He should have. His mom would be a great mother-in-law.) and headed back to the residence. I then borrowed keys from Santa Barbara and went to get them copied. 18 pesos later, I have keys.

Cash - check. Keys - check. Card - no check.

I was in a melancholy walking mood so I trecked over to the cobblestone streets of San Telmo. It was not as cute without the street fair they have on Sundays. But still a lovely walk. I made it back home again and lounged with Santa Barbara. I went to the grocery store, ate soup, watched some Entourage episodes, and now I'm in bed.

One day at a time.

Tomorrow I'm going to get up (probably at 7 when the contruction starts. I hate living in this building. Hate hate hate.) and maybe go to the gym again. More likely is that I will go drink cafe con leches and eat medialunas. Then internship and maybe a bar or something. We shall see.

I'm a bit crushed in spirit. Hopefully my vigor will return.

29 is not so fine

2008-09-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was my first weekday with no school. No getting up at 8:30 to get ready in the dark. No Federico interaction. No GIC office.

Brie and I went to Pilates at the gym. Very chill this time. The teacher played a lovely selection of No Doubt and Sting. Afterward we came to the residence got ready and went to conquer Palermo.

Palermo is the hip neighborhood much like the Village of NYC. It’s quieter and full of awesome cafes, restaurants, and stores. All of the good parks are over that way as well. We shopped all afternoon, ate at an awesome restaurant (I had a huge salad with sun dried tomatoes and blue cheese and glee). I bought 2 cool graphic t-shirts (part of my new South American style), 2 pairs of earrings, and some boots. Now I know I already bought nice boots but these were on sale and are beautiful and timeless. I love them. They're like a caramel brown with a small buckle detail. Slight wedge. Perfection.

We hung out in a café for an hour or so reading. Then we headed to the subte. We each had to buy a new pass so we did that. Then we got on the subte, rode 4 stops, and headed out. Then I noticed my purse felt a little light.

And it wasn’t because I had spent all my money.

It was because someone stole my wallet.

Hooray hooray.

I was carrying my cute new purse that goes across the shoulder and latches closed. Someone literally must have opened it, grabbed my wallet, and closed it back.

Mystery is my camera remains. Thank God. Silver lining to my cloud.

(The same thing happened in Spain, but they got my wallet and camera. I’ve been through this.)

So some Argentina dude now has my cute Spain wallet I’ve been using, about 156 pesos (50 dollars-ish), my keys (along with really cute new key chain I bought at the art fair), my debit card, a photocopy of my passport and driver’s license, insurance card, and various receipts. Congratulations thief.

I didn’t freak out. Things like this happen in big cities. In the metro. In Spanish speaking countries. To me.

I called and cancelled my card. I talked to Visa 911 on the phone for about 36 minutes trying to get them to send me a card to Argentina not Monroe. I cried on the phone to my mother and Jan. The usual.

Santa Barbara is helping me out. They’ve supplied cash, wine, and Sex and the City. All I need.

I have some old traveler’s checks I’m going to try to cash tomorrow. It’s all going to be just fine. I’m going to buy a cuter wallet, find the key chain lady at the fair this weekend, and treat myself to a pedicure, cut and highlight whenever my credit card comes.

But something wicked this way has come. I believe I am cursed.

Anyone recall what happened on the 29th of August? Oh yes – attempted mugging of phone and purse. 29th of September (today)? Wallet stolen.

And my birthday? 29th of March.

29 is my unlucky number. 29th of March 2007? Hospital in Spain.

I can’t imagine what will happen on my 29th birthday. Or how the year 2029 will be.

What have I done? Some weird voodoo is going on. And it ain’t cool.

Donde esta Ron Paul?

2008-09-28T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos. It’s been a lovely week here in Buenos Aires. I’ve been here for exactly one month. It actually seems like much more. Not in like an “I’ve been here forever wow I must really have been born here not at St. Francis” but just in wow has it really just been 4 weeks? I suppose it’s because I’ve done quite a bit. Went to Mendoza, Iguazu, 4 weeks of classes - it just seems like more than a month’s worth of life.

So let’s see what happened this week.

Oh yes. Monday night we went to this really cool music thing. It’s called Bomba de Tiempo. It happens every Monday night at Konex Cultural Center (where I saw RENT). Basically every student-ish hippie in the Buenos Aires area comes together in this parking lot type location and listens to this drum band. It’s like a hippie drum line. Like if Drumline movie replaced the Grambling band with say – Widespread or something. Quite cool. It was very fun. We didn’t stay the whole time. An hour of drumming is more than enough for me. I bought a nice t-shirt that I clearly can’t wear until I get home. I would be like when I used to play tennis as an adolescent. We would go to all these tournaments. When you checked in, they always gave you the tourney t-shirt. Then the next day, some kids would actually wear the shirt. You just can’t wear the shirt at the event. Not cool. (Also similar to sorority life when they give out the rowdy redneck t on Monday night and on Tuesday 6 girls in the same Journalism class all have it on.)

Tuesday I had class then internship. Or I attempted to. I left school, got on the subte (subway), and got off at my normal stop for work. But somehow I ended up walking around for an hour with no Club del Disco in sight. I honestly felt like I was looking for Platform 9 and ¾. I finally quit and came home. I need OnStar Argentina or something. I spent the afternoon in the Coffee Store instead.

Wednesday I did class and actually made it to work. Hooray! I gave a presentation in class about Susana Giminez – basically the Oprah of Argentina but with scandals. Federico made me do one last presentation. He told me I could do it on anything. That’s too broad. Tuesday I asked him just to give me a topic. He then asked what are my interests. We had been through this many times already. He then asked “Don’t’ you like celebrities and stuff?” Si I do. He told me to pick a famosa from Argentina. It was fun. I know lots about Susana now. Her favorite flower is jasmine and her favorite singer is Sinatra. Her favorite historical figure is Jesus.

Thursday I did school and work. That night I went to a bar called “The Shamrock” (go kd). Then we tried dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Not much success there. Santa Barbara is seriously mixing their Mexican food. So we tried. And it was a failure. They don’t really do spice here hence bland bad mexi food. Jessica ordered this flauta thing that turned out to be basically a foot long, 4-inch wide, hollow fried circle. So bizarre. Then the impossible happened. We went out.

Every Thursday the residencia kids go to this bar bc a guy that lives here works as a promoter and gets everyone in and free drinks on Thursdays. So we had been to Shamrock, dinner, and now it’s about 11:45. But oh no. Here that is much to early to venture out. We had to force ourselves awake until 1:30 or so when we went. (We watched the office premiere… not obsessed.) Then it was time to go. We jumped in cabs and headed to Puerto Madero, the hip fancy area. We got there, got in, and got drink tickets. And everyone got Strawberry Daiquiris. Not a joke. I was just following the crowd and got one too. So Spring Break. So gross. Chewing on sugar basically. With maybe a splash of some sort of alcohol. No good. Then the music begins.

Oh the wonder! 90s music. Including: Shania Twain, The Cardigans, etc. I can’t recall them all but I basically sang and danced for the hour. Then things start getting crunk in da club. Boys here are quite aggressive. It’s kind of a latch on, grab, grind, philosophy. Oh how lovely. We all danced around it but eventually pretty much everyone was pairing off with these dudes. Adios. Taxi please. And I came home. I took a cab with some girls. One of the girls in the car was wasted off 4 of the aforementioned daiquiris. About as wasted as the high school situation of 4 Mike’s Hard Lemonades. Not really possible. I laughed. Got home a bit before 4.

And off to class at 9. Woo hoo fiesta fiesta. My last day was a bit anticlimactic. A new girl joined my class on Wednesday so it was no longer intimate conversation class with Federico. It turned more into preschool. We played Go Fish and Mad Libs and drew on the board. However we did have an interesting last lesson.

Spanish insults.

The other girl is this 18 yr old from Seattle. Fresh from high school. She was ecstatic to learn some Spanish cuss words. I was still cowering from the “let’s learn all the body parts day.” But here we return to private parts on the board with lovely slang words.

To really offend someone here, you can call him or her a used condom. Good to know eh?

So I’m beet red and not looking up and making eye contact with anyone. Federico notices and is like “Charlotte – they’re just words!” Dude I know. Gross bad words. Too much time at Desoto to say such things.

So class ends. I basically say Gracias and Adios. And run. No professions of love.

So I’m free from class! No more waking up early everyday while my roomies sleep! I went to lunch with Santa Barbara. We ate outside at a café. So lovely. Spring really has sprung. It’s much warmer.

Friday night you better believe I was finding somewhere to watch the debate. It was at Ole Miss. I was so into it and had to see it. SO I Google my way around the internet and find one ex-pat debate watching party hosted by – Democrats of Argentina. So me and my new 300 democrats abroad watched the debate at this cool bar. It was packed. People were very into it. Lots of yelling. Lots of McCain sucks. Lots of anger. Lots of fun! I’m probably the only one there who hasn’t dedicated her life to Obama. I’m still holding out for Ron Paul. I miss him dearly. Maybe there’s a Libertarian in Argentina club. I’ll Google that later. Go Ron Paul.

The debate was just so mean. Why can’t we all get along? I hate how the candidates sit there and smirk while the other talks. Hates it. Santa Barbara is going to start volunteering with Democrats of Argentina so I’m sure I’ll tag along to the VP debate. I already feel so sorry for Palin due to the hostility I know will occur all the way in BA.

I’m not sure whom I’m voting for. But my Mom keeps telling me I have to vote to cancel out Gwyneth Paltrow’s expat vote.

Saturday was a fabulous day! We shopped in Recoleta. I bought my new fave purse. We went to the artist’s fair. We went to this huge flower sculpture I’d been dying to see. We went to the cemetery. We drank a beer. Great great day. Saturday night we went to dinner at this teeny tiny sketchy location Indian place. It was very cool. Then we got gelato. Amazing. Still hunting for a good meal.

Today (Sunday) was dreary outside. Perfect for a day in Café Martinez. We sat there with medialunas and tea all afternoon. Also shared my fave torta bomba. It’s like a pie of dulce de leche, custard, brownie, and love. So good.

Then tonight I went to see Hairspray. It was wonderful. Better than the US tour version I saw in Memphis with the skinny Tracy. This was awesome. The Tracy was selected via reality show. Link was played by the same guy who played the lead in the Argentina version of High School Musical (so just like Zach Efron). The Spanish was tricky but I know every word in English so I could follow. I went alone but befriended the people sitting near me. It was in a huge theater. Very Broadway. I can’t wait to go to another show. I love theater. Love it. The man who played Edna Turnblad is some famous comedian genious who also translated and rewrote the play in Spanish. He was great.

Speaking of Tracy Turnblad, does John McCain ever remind you of John Travolta in drag with that lisp? Or is it just me.

So now I’m home, about to go to bed I suppose. No school tomorrow! What shall I do?

Besos y mas besos.

-Carlotta

Back at Konex. Rent propoganda. Big beer. All's good.

The Bomba de Tiempo

At the club with my daiquiri.

Obama party

Recoleta cemetery. Very NOLA.

Art fair

Floralis Generico. My fave thing in BA maybe. It opens and closes according the the sun.

Jump flor.

Spanish is the new back handspring

2008-09-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

So I was sitting in class yesterday morning not having one of my best Spanish days. I was day dreaming a bit. Federico was going on about the pluscuamperfecto verb tense which I am pretty sure we can all live without. And it hit me.

Me trying to master Spanish is just like in 8th grade when I tried to master the back handspring.

I tried out for cheerleader at Grace at the end of 6th grade. I can still remember tryout clinic at Parkview. We did a dance to some song that says "Make the sun come up." I made it - I have mucho enthusiasm. Not the best jumps, but mucho enthusiasm.

I cheered all of 7th grade. Tried out again in 8th. Due to the departure of the other co-captain (so not my fault, due to some other mother's belief), I was the official captain. I'm sure I lead those 11 girls with much vigor as we cheered on the 3 grace CYO football players while they still permitted non-Catholics to cheer and the basketball team as we played our games at the Richardson Alternative School. Oh the good ole days...

My cheer future was bright. High school was approaching. Clearly I had to be a St. Fred's cheerleader. Duh. But to be a high school cheerleader you have to tumble.

Oh no.

I have many talents. Flipping and jumping and the splits just aren't part of them. But boy did I try. I spent hours and hours on group cheer lessons at Bayou/Riverside Gymnastics. Private lessons with ULM cheerleaders Ty and Robert. Probably more money than my St. Fred's tuition. All to be able to jump backwards, throw my hands down, and flip over. Why is that even an option? Seriously who has this idea?

After about 2 years, infinite money that I'm too embarrassed to calculate, and many tearful collapses on the spring floor after the coaches told me to just go do more sit jumps, I realized that I am never going to be able to do this. It's just not in the cards for me.

Well fast forward to about say um now. After 9 years of Spanish classes. A month in Costa Rica. 4 months in Spain. An entire college degree of Spanish.

I still can't do it.

Don't get me wrong - I have my good days. Sometimes I'm talking to cab driers with such success I hardly even notice it's a different language. Other times I just laugh and smile. But sometimes, the Spanish just goes away. I'm not sure where. Maybe to Brazil. I did take 3 semesters of Portuguese. (And all I recall is Bom Dia!)

Just like the dern back handspring, so goes Spanish. Mucho time, muchisimo money, and here I am. The only cheerleader who can't tumble.

At least I still have the enthusiasm.

2008-09-23T12:20:00.001-07:00

The Bachelor: Iguazu Falls

2008-09-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos! All's fab here in Argentina. I got back from Iguazu this morning at 7:30. We came back to the residencia, I showered, went to school. School was fun but mentally exhausting. It was like a marathon of verb tenses. Frederico dude. It's Monday. I slept on a bus. It was ok until the end when I basically told him that it was too much I quit. I'm going to redeem myself tomorrow.

So you are in for a treat. You get a special edition preview of ABC's best reality show. I fortunately/unfortunately was basically a contestant on The Bachelor this weekend.

First there was Alex.
Later there was the perfect Andrew Firestone.
Now there's Mariano.

Mariano is one of the program coordinators for GIC. In his spare time he is an actor. He enjoys Russian literature, history, and the outdoors. Mariano grew up in southern Argentina in the Patagonia. He came to Buenos Aires 6 years ago to study his craft, acting, at the University. But he hasn't quite found the woman to settle him down. Hes moving to Mexico in three weeks to sudy arquitechture and pursue his acting career. But for now, Mariano chaperones the Iguazu GIC trip with 13 girls and 3 boys. Off to northern Argentina they will all travel. Will he find love? Will the girls kill eachother? Will the rainforest bring out the jaguar in everyone? Watch the Bachelor: Iguazu Falls to find out.

Bachelor Mariano and the contestants met at the bus station Thursday evening. They mingled and giggled and tried to establish themselves. I was super awkward and laughed really loud and got really excited a lot. He laughed at my Vera Bradley bag (Yes, some may travel South America with a backpack. But I went to Ole Miss. I travel with a Vera Bradley duffel.) The girls gawked at his beauty while Mariano, being the latin lover that he is, spoke in beautiful Spanish causing each girl to fall into a deep crush. This bachelor has certainly won over the ladies.

Everyone boards the bus that will take them 15 hours north the the very top of Argentina. The contestants take their seats and wait to see where the Bachelor will sit. Who will get the first impression rose?

Charlotte Mintz. That's right. Mariano sits down in his seat assigned by the gods of love and fate and Spanish. Right netx to me. 15 hours of fun. We chat about our families, hopes, dreams, number of children we want to have, etc. Then he begins to read a novel by his favorite author, Herman Hesse. He takes a look at my book, Eat Pray Love (which I just reread, even better the second time) and reads the back. We have a fun flirty time reading each other's books and ocassionaly, our elbows touch. Sharing that armrest, heaven.

Dinner is served. We dine. A romantic dinner of steak, potatoes, argentina mystery foods, all served in tin foil. We drink red wine out of styrofoam cups. So romantic. Dinner ends and the movies begin (Prime, Scoop, Death at a Funeral). They bring us a cup of champagne in another styro cup. Our first date of dinner, drinks, and a movie is just perfection. I laughed quite a bit, just so the other contestants could hear me and hear how much fun we were having.

The movies end, and it's time to go to sleep. Now I'm not one to sleep with the guy on the first date, but what was I to do (joke joke)? The lights dimmed, he reclined his seat and pulled up the foot rest, I reclined my seat and put up the foot rest, he put on his hoodie, I put on my IPOD, and we slept. No night vision cameras needed. Throughout the bus sleep (kind of miz, but better than an airplane I think), I wake up to see the Bachelor still there. Oh what luck! I totally get the first impression rose.

Fast forward 8 hours. Who looks awesome after sleeping on a bus? Not me. And probably not you. Not even Mariano. The magic of the whole night was tarnished a bit due to my mousy hair and dirty face. No time to brush teeth. Once Mariano went to the bathroom I whipped out my makeup bag to do some damage control. Gum, oil absorbing sheet, lip gloss, and bobby pins. I'm back in the game.

They put on another DVD. As if my life could get any better.... Britney Spears Greatest Hits DVD. Oh yes they did. And Mariano and I had already talked about how she was from Louisiana (that's all these people know about Louisiana, and ocassionally Mardi Gras). We watched some Britney videos and shortly thereafter arrived in Iguazu.

We get off the bus and I am feeling the jealousy of the other contestants. I got so much alone time. I know! I'm totally getting the ring.

We jump in cabs and go to the hostel. The hostel is basically this huge cheap resortish type place with a pool, ping pong tables, pool tables, couches, restaurant - basically a mini Rio Yucatan (the infamous location of Spring Break 2008).

We spend the day by the pool, fighting over the Bachelor, girls really showing off the goods. We drink beer, play cards and ping pong, typical hostel fun. Mariano then went off on some rugged adventure to repel, rock climb, zipline, etc. We all missed him so much. People were really falling for him already. I asked him later what his favorite part of the adventure was. He said "learing the history of where we were". What a sexy scholar.

As always, the girl with the First Impression Rose never makes it long. I'm history. Not a good competitor for the fellas. Plus, as always, after the first few episodes, The Bachelor totally starts to look like a total loser. I hate this term but he was it. D bag. Now it gets more fun. As an observer, I really got to see what being on the Bachelor is like.

Night falls and drinking begins. Girls giggle and fight for his attention. At one point, Mariano has come to sit with me and the Santa Barbara girls. He's been there for maybe 4 minutes and some skank comes and says, "Mariano! You have to come play cards with us!" She stole him away.

Events like this continue all night long. Vom vom vom.

We call it a night and go to bed. I heard one of the contestants say when she came back to our room that night "Mariano is an angel". We get up early the next morning to go the the falls.

Iguazu Falls consists of 215 waterfalls located on the border of Brasil and Argentina. It really is stunning. I've never seen Niagara Falls but I hear it's lame compared to this. Not only do we have waterfally here, it's in the rain forest. So amazing. The latest Indiana Jones movie was filmed there.

But in typical travel spirit - it rains. Pours. And is freezing. It's like the bachelor gods (ABC producers) sent us on the outdoorsy date to test who would complain etc.

So cold. Constant rain. And we're in basically what feels like Disney's Animal Kingdom but it's real.

We wak through the park, go on a safari-ish ride through the jungle, and then on a boat.

By the time we get on the boat it is really about to storm. Have no fear though. They load us on what looks like a Coast Guard rescue boat with old school life jackets and say good luck. It was like we were on Deadliest Catch. They take us on this dingy (it really is like a rescue boat. Women and children first please. And it takes you into danger, not away from it.) and head for the waterfalls. I am crouched down in fetal position trying to avoid the ice bullet rain drops. The water is like white water. Peace out Ocoee. Hello waterwalls. Of death. The boat driver is decked out in full rubber suit. And he looks miserable and evil. It's like he was punishing us. By this point, delirium has totally set in. It becomes funny. He rams us up almost under one of the falls and my side of the boat literally is submerged. I swallow gulps of water. I realize that I am going do die on the adveture date. He pulls us out and then does it again. We survive and make it back to the dock. MIRACLE. There are no safety regulations in South America.

We are so ready to go at this point. No point in changing into our extra clothes because - that's right. It's still pouring rain.

A bachelor moment occurs. Mariano gives Jessica his jacket. It smelled of smoke, Old Spice and love. All the girls freak just like when Andrew Firestone gave his watch to Tina Fabulous to wear. Jealousy is pouring down harder than the rain. Or the waterfalls.

We get back to the hostel. I have never been so cold. Like hypothermic. I take a cold shower (yay hostel hot water. not.) and get in bed. I wrap up in 4 blankets but cannot get warm. Eventually I regain feeling in my feet. I get it together to go to the main building for dinner.

The Bachelor game continues as the plan of every girl is to "Get Mariano really drunk". Peace out chicas. About half the girls are out of the game at this point. Only a few remain. They try as hard as they can to win his affection. After the day of pneumonia, I regret the invitation to jump in the hostel van and go into town to the local club. The remaining contestants go try to seduce. I hear them when they come back in the morning. "Did anyone kiss Mariano????"

No they did not.

The next day is more of the same. The final girls really duking it out. They try to play volleyball. We leave on a bus at 3. The Bachelor has alternate transportation. The game is over.

The Bachelor remains single. I do not accept this rose.

That's basically the weekend. So beautiful. (Mariano and the falls).

It was hysterical to watch. I swear it was the Bachelor.

Here are some pics to illustrate to fun. Maybe they'll pick me to be the Bachelorette. I'm sure I was the viewers' favorite.

The hostel

Stalker pics
Hola Bachelor.

He looks a little Sexy Mexi but it works in real life.

Danielle and I in our fashionable Iguazu Falls ponchos

Jessica in Marian's jacket
So jeal

On the safari truck. So Animal Kingdom.

The falls. You should google "Iguazu" and see good pics. I did. It was a bit misty and gray for us.

More falls. Cataratas (en espanol)

Brie y yo at the falls.

More stalker pics

I could be a pro stalker. It's a video.

From the bus on the way back. Such a nice day.

A blue sky. Would have been nice a day earlier. But whatevs. It was nice to meet Iguazu even under the miz conditions.

Forgot to mention that on the bus back we got stopped twice by some border patrol type thing. Army men and dogs searched everyone's stuff. It was so South America.

BA is a ok

2008-09-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hola chica hola! Hey hey from BA! I wanted to post before we head off to Iguazu falls for the weekend. Here goes something.

Last I left you, I was heading to pilates. Considering I've only done pilates once in the KD house with a video Katie and I bought at Target and basically just laid on the floor bc I can't even touch my toes, I knew it was going to be interasante. I went to the gym, jumped on treadmill and took off. There is nothing more motivating than being in a room of locals staring at your blonde hair and (god forbid) shorts to get you moving. Everyone has on black spandex. I have on a purple t shirt with Mike the Tiger on it and blue nike shorts. Oh well. Embrace the face and go.

After about 20 minutes it was time for pilates. We (my friend Jo from Dartmouth) and I went up to the third floor, walked in the class, and tried to find a spot.

Ok I hate going into workout classes in the USofA when you don't know what to do and which equipment to grab and if you need 5 pound weights or 2 pounders or a stretchy band thingy. So awkard. I always try to look cool ad basically just copy whatever the yoga princesses are doing.

We do the "copy everyone in silence" and set up mats etc. We get in the far back corner as we want no one to see us. Then the teacher walks in.

She sees us in our Americanness and starts yelling "Extranjeros! Extranjeros! (foreigners)" like she has just spotted ole Justin Timberlake walking down the road. We kind of nod and say yes we are from the estados unidos. Please live us alone. We don't say that exactly but I was thinking it really hard.

The class starts with something like the arm circles Sir used to make us do at soccer conditioning. After a while, I'm feeling the burn. Then she turns off the nice soothing yoga-esque music and starts torturing us. It was a very intense class. More like bootcamp pilates than winsor pilates.

It was good. I did it. I need to go back. Maybe next week...

I had school tuesday with mi amor Frederico. He was kind of a little brat but whatevs. He's suck a mess. He lectured me on how to take notes. Listen buckshot, I can, i just may choose not to at times when say I'm daydreaming about us getting married. Or whatevs.

We then played games. Like kids games with fairy tales and a wolf and golden slippers and magic potion. I had to make up all these weird stories.

When you study abroad, people treat you like a toddler. I already feel like a mutated kindergartner most of the tie anyway but it's true. It was the same in Spain. The way the program coordinators and teachers talk to you is like "Awwww! Did you have fun this week? Yay! That's super! Want a cookie?" It's kind of funny but weird. For example, at school on friday (I won't be there, going to Iguazu) all of the students are meeting together to get to know each other and celebrate the first day of spring. We are supossed to bring cookies and each talk about our favorite things in spring and how a perfect spring day would be (this is so like fiesta fridays in high school). it's just funny. And Frederico told me about it with such excitement. I wanted to tell him thanks but I already finished pre school. And college. But it's a nice gesture.

I then went off to work. I almost chickened out but I made it to the subte and after getting lost again, got to the office. So glad I went bc it always turns out so great. I love it. I'm obsessed. With my beautiful boss. And the cool office, mate drinking, cool music playing, - just a very hip environment. I don't contribute much to the conversations bc I normally have no idea what's going on. I'm like the silent american except I giggle and smile and blush the whole time.

Here's a nice tale from work that day. I had sent Rodrigo, my boss, an email saying when I was coming in that week. He never responded so I asked him about it. He said the best way to get in touch with him was cell phone. I gave him my numero and then he said he would text me his. So he's like the most beautiful man in Buenos Aires and I love him. And he's super nice and speaks very clear Spanish. Perfection. So I hear my phone get the text and pick it up. I open the message and it says (in Spanish but I'll give it to you in ingles). Want to go get a coffee after work? Kisses.

They sign off here and in Spain too with "besos (kisses) or un beso or un abrazo (hug). I think it's hysterical. Its kind of like ending a phone convo with luv ya! But they do it to everyone and they say "a kiss". Muy comico.

Anyways back to my story, I read it and am like OMG all of my dreams are coming true he loves me. I then see that the text is actually from Jillian, a girl from the residencia. The next message is a bunch of numbers and just says "Rodrigo".

Rollercoaster of love. My emotions can't translate this Spanish. It was quite funny. I feel like it would make a good scene on The Office or something. I'm so glad I didn't look up at him or something. Oh the horror.

I've been doing all this research at work on different ways to pay for things online. I have lots of experience with online shopping. I am somehow quaified to do this! It's like the job Julie and I did at BGR but instead of researching political nonsense and making Potential Client Reports about contracters in Mississippi, it's about music and culture and cool.

After work I came back home and rounded up some people to go eat at La Inca, a Peruvian restaurant around the corner. It was deelish. Tasted a lot like Costa Rica food - rice, spice, and chicken hooray!

This week has been good I actually was busy. Its a miracle! I don't know how you normal people do it. I was gone from my residencia from like 9 am to 11 pm. I had school in the morning, internship in the afternoon, went to a movie with some amigos, dinner, and then home.

The movie. Una novio para mi mujer. (A boyfriend for my woman.) I had seen the posters all over town. It looked like a solid chick flick. And it was. I missed about 75% of the dialogue but that's ok because you could pretty much figure it out with just the visual.

I did work and school the following day. Work was amazing. Rodrigo was doing something in the restaurant downstairs.. He kept coming back to the office to do stuff in his cute litle apron. German, another guy at work who is basically the cool dry witty guy from How to lose a gy in 10 days who works with Ben at the advertising place. Remember him? Not hte one in the glasses but the one from Dazed and Confised? Well German is like him but even funnier. He kept coming in and dancing to this techo music stuff.

School again today. It was magical. I was in a chipper mood and so was profesor Frederico. We had a joy learing the 76 different ways to say "become" in Spanish. We laughed a lot and ate some cookies and fell in love some more. He's like a super genious. He's getting some high up degree in linguistics and studies greek, english, german, latin. Hot. I'm sure he's just waiting for our classes to end before he proposes. He wouldn't want to cross the student teacher line.

I had a wine tasting class this week too. We tasted different espumantes (sparkling wines). It was very interesting. I now know that I like Brute or Nature espumantes, that everyone is ripping off the French by calling their wine Champagne, and that they drink it here with Sushi.

I've found a sandwich shop I love. It's amazing. I've been 3 times this week.

Last night Santa Barbara girls and I tried to have a poker night. We dreamed this up in Mendoza. Jessica googled how to play Hold Em and got her boyfriendish to help explain some stuff.

It was fun and pretty succesful. It was so funny though. Every hand or so we would just quit and start talking about Sex and the City or the struggles of being a woman today or something. I do not have the poker talent old Ben has. Maybe we can play a family round of Hold Em on Christmas morning or something.

Well, I'm off to pack. I'll let you know about the weekend when I return.

Besos.

Charlotte

Mendoza con cesped y perros

2008-09-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

So I went on my first travel expedition in Argentina. Santa Barbara girls, Lindsay the ballerina from Cali, and I left Thursday night. We took an overnight bus (what a lovely way to spend 14 hrs) but it was kind of awesome. The buses here are super duper nice. We got "full cama" seats which means full bed. We got on the double decker, went to our assigned seats up top and settled in. The seats are like big leather airplane first class. The bus attendant brought us some Bon Bons and drinks. And we were off. They showed some awful movie called WAR thst none of us watched. We just relaxed, ate, drank, wine and ipoded. At about 11 or so they turn off all the lights and everyone goes to sleep. The chairs lay almost all the way back and a foot rest comes forward. Muy comodo. Sleeping is still a bit tricky, but stil not so so bad. We arrived in Mendoza at about 11 am. We walked to our hostel and checked in. They prepared our room and we settled. It was a nice cute hostel and only cost like 10 dollars a night. We were feeling very ambitious so we set off to go see the vineyards.

Bikes and Wines. Does anyone else see the lawsuit coming? Well, here they don't. We rented bikes and peddled off to go on wine tours and tastings. So I know I got a bike for Christmas but the truth is I've probably only ridden it about 10 times so I am not a talented biker. The Santa Barbara girls however ride bikes 24/7 at school, even to go out at night, so drinking and biking was no prob for them. I can barely bike after drinking a gatorade - let alone anything else.

The road we set out on was basically a highway for the outskirts. Many semi trucks, whistling men, terrifyingly close to car interactions. It looked a lot like Costa Rica. Gated houses, stray dogs, a bit of poverty, the usual. Staying on the bike and not falling off or getting trampled by a hige truck are my greatest accomplishments.

We finally made it to the first vineyard. Once we turned off the main road, it was quite nice. The bodega was a small family owned and run old school winery. Loved it. We had such a nice guide who took us all through bodega. Then we got to try the wines. He set up these bean bag chairs outside for us. Heaven. It was so cool. The weather in Mendoza is so nice - blue skies, Andes mountains in the background, cool breeze. That plus great wine made right where you are sitting - ahh the perfection. Best thing I've done here so far.

But then we had to get back on the bikes.

We made it to the next vineyard which was more fancy and trendy. We just sat outside on this huge deck, drank wine, and looked at the vineyard. Amazing part 2.

Then we were starving - hadn't eaten since "breakfast" on the bus (bus food eww). We peddled our little hearts out to get to the lunch place they marked on the map. We got there and it was super fancy and expensive so we peaced out to go to the chocolate and liquor factory instead. Very cool. Very delicious.

We were biked out so we went back to Bikes and Wines and called a cab to take us to our hostel. We grabbed a late lunch at some cafe. So I still hadn't eaten any good meat since I've been here and I know this is supposed to be like steak central so I decided to start ordering the carne. I got some steak thing that was good. Not great.

We lounged for a bit and then went out to a great dinner at this trendy restaurant. Great food and drinks. And called it a night.

We slept in a bit and then went out searching for cafe. And boy did we find it. Best capucino of my life.

Mendoza has tons of great parks and plazas. Buenos Aires is great, but it's very concretey and crowded and gray. Mendoza is grassy and roomy and green. Such a nice break. We walked around all day - shopped, ate, read in the park- great great day.

That night we went to this cool brewery. We did a beer tasting and ate there. Lots of great convo. These girls are like hope for America. Politocos fo sho. Lots of Obama talk. I told them that it was cool to be in College Republicans at Ole Miss. They laughed and nearly spat out their beer.

We bar hopped for a while, ate some McDonalds, and called it a night.

Sunday morning we got up and went on a hunt for this other park. We found it after walking through Chino mas o menos. We parked it by the lake and read/layed out. But we made a friend.

The most awful, disgusting, heinous, smelly, diseased animal ever. A stray dog. So gross he made all the other stray dogs of Argentina seem like the cute 101 disney dalmations. This dog made Lulu (aka Lucifer the horrible dog we had for less than a year when she got runover bc someone left the gate open...) seem like heaven dog. This dog had a huge tumor or something hanging off it's reproductive area. It was repulsive. And it would not leave us. We left the park and it followed us all the way back to our hostel. I almost cried. I was on the edge of losing it seriously. It was so awful. Ew ew ew.

We finally hid in the hostel long enough for it to leave. We went and ate a goodlunch and tried to forget the horror of the perro. So gross so gross so gross. I hate dogs. There. I said it. I know that's a trait of serial killers but whatevs. (This was like Carrie Hill picking up stray mountain dog x 100000. Morgan picking up stray mountain dog x 60000000.) Ugh. Next. Give me a good cat.

We lounged, ate gelato, walked around til 6 when our bus left to bring us back "home". This bus was not near as nice. It was bright purple. Like barney on wheels. We got to watch 3 movies. They were so good I must share them with you.

First was Wild Hogs.

"A group of suburban biker wannabes looking for adventure hit the open road, but get more than they bargained for when they encounter a New Mexico gang called the Del Fuegos."

Starring: John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William Macy.

Oh the horror. It was maybe the worst movie of all time. I loved it. John Travolta who still looks like Edna from Hairspray, Tim the Toolman - it's just too good to be true.

Then was Cirque de Soleil - Quidam

This is the same show from Knocked Up I'm pretty sure where they do shrooms and then go and freak out. Well duh. It's the trippiest thing ever.

Then came a movie I don't know the title of and have to look on IMDB....

Ok it's Trust the Man. 2005.

David Duchovny, Maggie Gylenhal, Eva Mendes, the list goes on and on.

The weirdest Rom-Com ever. But very entertaining. And horribly awesome.

Then I slept for a few hours and woke up in BA. 7 am. Hooray. I didn't know people here got up that early, but the subte was pretty crowded. We made it back to the residencia and I blogged til class.

Frederico and I had a blast as always. Today his shoes were untied and he had a coffee mug that had his name on it and these little kid drawings of soccer balls. So cute. We played some fun numbers games. He told me about cool music. Fiesta fiesta. I found out he was born in 1985. Bout my age.

I ate lunch at Cafe Tortoni- a famous cafe bc Borges used to kick it there and write and stuff. It was delicious. I am loving the salads here. They are carrot based instead of lettuce. It works though.

Not sure what's on the agenda tonight. Low key fo sho. Everyone is sick. Carley roomie has strep, Henni norway is snifflig, it's like disease time. I plan on using lots of hand sani.

Here's some pics from the weekend. Besos.

I'm going to a Pilates class. Should be fun.

Tango, Trabajo, Travel

2008-09-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

Those are the big three T's of last week. Sorry I haven't posted - See I actually made some friends (if you recall in one of my firsts posts I predicted that this might occur and that it would impact my blog time ) and so now I have less blog time. But now I'm back and recommitted to sharing my adventuras.

So where did I leave off. Oh yes, about to go to El Alamo to watch NFL. Talk about a time warp. I could have been in any Oxford bar/frat house. It was all of these screaming drunk American boys yelling at the television. I was just waiting for Ben Mintz to show up. Good news is girls drink free beer. Bad news is it comes in a clear plastic solo cup and tastes like the bottom of the Keystone keg. Very fun, very funny, very why I am here if I wanted to be doing this I would not have moved to South America.

Tuesday. Hmm. Can't even remember. School I'm thinking... Yes. School was good. Then I went shopping which was better. Oh the glory of the peso. I still have no idea really how currency fluctuates etc. but it's working out well in my shopping favor. I went to the Gallerias Pacificas, a nice fancy mall with painted cielings that look all Vaticany. I was on the hunt for boots after the fall incident on Avenida de Mayo. And I found some. Beautiful, fabulous, classic yet trendy boots. They're a navyish color. Flat. Below the knee. Love. Now back in the old US of A spending $100 on shoes is sadly quite common for me. And probably you too. Well for 417 pesos which in my mental math comes out to be about 14o dollars (jk, just had to use my calculator widget). And I love these boots. They are very Mallory Neely-esque.

Fast forward to Wednesday. I wear the boots. Oh the pain. The pain. If you've ever seen that episode of Friends with Monica and the boots - quite similar. But I think I can work through the pain and break them in. Oh I will. Game on.

So I learned how to tango. Kind of! My dancing skills other than the Rebelette impressions and my much envied kick spin lean move are quite limited. My only other dance class experience other that the 2 years of ballett, tap, jazz fron 2-3 grade is a salsa lesson they forced us to take in Costa Rica which ended up on my top 5 most emberassing moments list. (Dancing with a girl, Ole Miss Basketball team, Costa Rica dance studio full of Ole Miss students.... bad bad bad). I was a bit nervous but when in Buenos Aires, one must tango. Our program set up this free lesson at the Confiteria Ideal. This place is legendary. It's even #1 on things to do in one of my 6 guide books.

We walked over to the place and went in - it's so pretty and cool and old and tangoish. The tango has 8 basic steps. We put on our heels and learned them. Then we had to practice turning by leaning on this column in the middle of the room. Every 5 minutes or so this old guy would come and steal one of us away to dance with him. I was like ducking on the sides of the column to avoid this but eventually he got me.

So we danced. Kind of. I was having issues not stepping straight into him, but I'm so sorry if I'm not super gung ho to take off into this man's pelvis. I got the hang of it after a while. I can do the basic steps. That may be all the tangoing I do. Done and done. Check it off the list.

Thursday was a big dia. I had to give a presentation to my class aka just Frederico. I also had my first day of work. My presentation had to be about something in the past from America. I chose every Ole Miss students favorite topic - racism! I even made a power point. I did the whole James Meredith thing. Frederico loved it and now thinks the South is even odder than he did before.

Then I was off to work. I jumped on the metro and then got a bit lost but I found it. I was quite nervous as I buzzed the office but they somehow understood me and came down to let me in. It was a great day at work. Everyone is so cool. I basically have no responsibilities and I think GIC pays them to let me be there but whatevs. I did some research on how to open an online store for their website. I wrote some english emails for them. I'll explain more later. My boss is beautiful. He was wearing a delicate scarf though...

After work I came back to the residencia, packed, and took off on our trip to Mendoza! Will post that later today. We got back at 7 am so I've been killing time til school at 9:30. It's now 9 so I must get ready to go see my Frederico.

Adios.

Highlights of the week - Frederico drawing a Spanish timeline on the board and saying I am at the end but just have some holes missing that we can fill in ( aka he thinks my Spanish is good)

My hot boss telling me my Spanish is way better than the last intern they had.

Success!

Walking back from NFL game we stopped to admire the shoe stores. Ahhhh.

Tango at the Confiteria Ideal

Skype Hype

2008-09-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

So I have discovered and conquered Skype (www.skype.com). It's like an instant messenger but you can verbally speak to each other and video chat. Obsessed. Yesterday I talked to Will and Morgan. Even more fun is that you get to watch yourself talk via the camera. Now I must admit (and if you've ever been anywhere with me that has a mirror, say Burgundy Room or something similar, you know) I love this. So get Skype and we can chat! It's free.

Well the rest of the weeknd was chillaxin relaxin cool. Saturday was very tranquilo. I went to a cafe down the street with the Santa Barbara girls. It was cold and rainy - the perfect day for kicking it in a cafe or watching One Tree Hill. Either really. But we cafe'ed and it was fun. We read newspapers and drank capucinos and looked hipster and Uptown Coffee-ish.

We stayed in Sat night and watched a movie (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - it gets better with age, my friends). I slept in Sunday. Then I got up and we all went to San Telmo (a cool neighborhood) for a street fair they have every Sunday. It rocked! Sad to think how much my mood fluctuates depending on good shopping. I basically came alive. I bought a cool tango poster and some earrings. This totalled at about 11 dollars. Hooray for Argentina's economy.

After we shopped for a while we walked back and lounged some more (noticing a trend? I feel like my brother Ben who doesn't just end up hanging out on the couch for a while but actually plans it and calls it "couch time" - with a purpose). We ate at the pizza place across the street for dinner and then had more couch time.

At midnight, Madonna tickets went on sale. Her world tour is stoppping here on December 6. We tried for about 2 hours to get tickets online but ticketek is about as cool as ticketmaster and it wouldn't work. We're going to try to go to a kiosk and buy tickets later.

Lots of good music here. The Pepsi Music festival is coming up. Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Matthews, 9 Inch Nails - sadly no Justin or Britney, but it will do.

On a musical note (chiste...jajaja) I listen the the In the Heights Soundtrack and The Avett Brothers pretty much constantly during couch time.

Speaking of music again- I just got back from my internship interview. And it was perfect. So cool. It's with El Club del Disco. I know that sounds like a night club, but it's not.

El Club del Disco is a small business that promotes independent musicians. Every month they release a cd of some cool unsigned musician and a magazine about cool music. I'm going to be translating the magazine into English. When I went to the office today, it had such a cool vibe. Can't wait. I go again on Thursday. (http://clubdeldisco.com/sitio/index.php) Cool cool cool.

Sorry this post is a bit jumpy. Back to this morning. I fell. On the sidewalk. On the way to school. I felt all Carrie Bradshaw when she went all the way to Paris to squat in Dior. Many a local stopped to help me up.

Despite this rocky/sidewalky start, it's been a great day. My classs with Frederico went really well. The interview rocked. Lucas, the guy from GIC who is in charge of the internship program took me to my interview. Lucas - oh please picture this. You know the guy in Wedding Crashers who's all like "Hey Vince Vaughn, I made you a painting..." and he's creepy and funny and stuff. Well imagine him, but he's hot. That's Lucas. I don't know why but all the girls love him. He's so cute. He's from BA and is in college I think. He told me he has a biochem test wednesday -so he's smart too. It was fun to go around the city with him. Not so bad to go for the cheek kiss either. At one point our hands touched. I just wanted to latch on.

Since then I went with Santa Barbara to try to buy Madonna tickets. So did basically every other person in the city. The line was huge. We nexted it and went to buy bus tickets to go to Mendoza this weekend. That was quite an ordeal but 2 hours and $100 dollars later, we're going Thursday-Sunday. Can't wait. It's supposed to be all vineyardy and outdoorsy. Vineyard - check. Outdoorsy - I can fake it. I did spend all summer at camp. (See Jan - I should have packed the outdoorsy shorts..)

After our fiasco with the bus tickets, the McDonalds next door was literally screaming, "Americans - come seek comfort in fries and fountain diet coke." And so we went. It was the best diet coke I've ever had. Sadly, no filet of fish in Argentina. Triste.

I then went to wine class. We did red wine today. I found my new fave wine ever. It's a syrah from Argentina. It costs like 6 dollars a bottle. I'm stocking up.

I'm about to go to a bar that shows... NFL games on monday nights. Now you know how much I love watching a football game (Oh wait, no. I'm a grover, not a gamer) but it should be fun.

Much love to home. Yay BA!

- Ch ch ch char

Fotos!

La feria de San Telmo

Henni (Norway roomie) and I at the feria

A foto de a kiosko. They have kioskos on every street. They basically just sell goodies.

This is the obelisco. It is basically the washington monument.

This is Avenida 9 de Julio - the widest street in the world. Not so sure why this is something to be super proud of. Crossing it takes 2 seperate lights.

The line for Madonna tickets.

1 week

2008-09-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hey readers. Gossip girl here. Things in Buenos Aires are cold. And rainy.

So I've been here for a week. Hard to believe just a week ago I was getting mugged. Seems like years ago.

Yesterday was quite a day. I went to school and had a time with Frederico. I don't know if I was tired or what, but I just couldn't get it together. I kept messing up and just speaking in English and then I'd tear up. Triste. Frederico prob thinks I'm way unstable.

After class I went to the grocery store and bought some stuff. I then napped all afternoon. I got up around 6 and hung out with some peeps on my floor.

Last night was the welcome dinner that our program organized for us. It was fabulous! We ate at this restaurant in a cool barrio called Palermo Hollywood. The restaurant was very big and loud and fun. They had board games and we drank for free. Great combo! I sat at a table with the Santa Barbara girls (my new bffs), 2 girls from Australia, and some others. We had a blast. We stayed at the restaurant from 10-2ish. The whole "we do things very late at night" thing here is hard to adjust to. At about 8 o'clock, my day is usually about done - minus whatever tv I must watch. Here that's like the afternoon.

After dinner we all went to some club. It was fun. We danced for a while. I came back around 4 which is like leaving the party before it even starts but hey - i tried. When I got back I took a shower and the with the courage of many beers, stole someone's hair dryer and dried my hair for the first time. It was pure joy. It may have been the highlight of the night. That's triste too...

I slept in today, along with everyone else. It was like a ghost town til about 3 pm or so. I spent the afternoon with the Santa Barbara girls in a cafe down the street. We drank capucinos and read things and wrote things It was a great way to spend a hungover, rainy, freezing afternoon. We came back to the dorm for a while and then went and got dinner across the street at this pizza place we frequent. We got this great pizza with chicken, tomato, olives, etc. Deelish. We then watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. A lovely evening. Now everyone is gearing up to go out. Oh heck no. I don't go out in the rain. Not even in Oxford.

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so we can go to the Feria de San Telmo. They have a street fair with lots of booths to buy fun things. It's rumored to be quite touristy but guess what. Soy turista.

PS - I just watched the new 90210. Que horror. Bad idea. It's bad to think Tori Spelling would actually improve things.

Here's a pic from dinner last night.

Hola hola!

Hace frio. Mucho frio.

2008-09-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

That means it's cold. Very cold. I sit right now in the student lounge in the warmest lounge outfit I could piece together: argyle socks, blue pajama pants w/ hot air balloons on them, and a black sweatshirt jacket thing. And I'm so cold. I wore a long sleeved shirt, sweater, scarf, and coat today. Que frio! It will be like this for about a week before it starts to warm up. I should enjoy it now bc I'm missing fall this year, and it's my fave season. Enjoy it for me.

Today was a good day. I went to bed after watching Greek online last night around 1:30. I woke up a bit when my Norweigan roomie came in from the club but fell right back to sleep. When I got up at 9 I was still quite tired. I put on my warmest clothes and headed off to school. Mi profesor Frederico was over 30 minutos late. It's pretty much given that whatever you do here will start at least 15 minutes late. 30 was pretty big though. He was very apologetic. He's such a crazy. It was just us again today which is great. However I have a fun story to tell:

So we went over prepositions and por v para and some other stuff and then he suggested we review the parts of the human body. Oh great. Awkward. So Frederico likes to draw on the board the words I don't know. Like if I asked him que significa una silla? He would draw a chair. How cute. Not so cute with the human anatomy.

He drew a huge life size male and female on the board. Complete with all the parts. Oh yes. Penis. Boobs. Lady parts. And it's just us in this little conference room. It was so emberassing. He would point to something and I would name it. If I didn't know it he would write it out. On the board was written : pene, testiculos, etc.... And then he made some fun jokes about how there are a montana de palabras por vagina, penis, etc. Oh how educational.

After school I went to the grocery store and bought apples, water, coca light, yogurt, and some premade from the deli spaghetti. I ate the spag when I got back. It was quite good. I then napped for about 2 hours. I woke up and went to get a quick bite with 2 girls from my dorm. They ate pizza and I got a cafe con leche and this pastry called and alfajor. Ok this I love. It's pronounced Alfa-hore. Get it? I think it's funny. And it was delicious. It's like 2 cookie/biscuit things with dulce de leche in between. They love dulce de leche here. It's like a thick caramel.

I then went to the wine tasting class I signed up for at school. There were about 10 of us there. We learned the history of wine, the different tastes of the tongue, and did some tastings of white wines. The wines were all from Argentina. 1 was a chardonney que no me gusta but the other 2 were great. I have class once a week for 4 weeks. I'll be such the conniseur. I really want to do an Argentina vineyard trip. Maybe when MKB comes to visit...

After class we went to dinner. I was still full from my alfajor so i just drank some wine and hung out. It was quite the ex-pat ocassion. A canadian and 5 americans. Fiesta fiesta. After I walked back here and now I'm chilling. Literally chilling in the way that I am so cold. Chiste....

Everyone is going out to some club tonight. I'm like Grandma status here. I just have no desire to get all club ready and then grind from 3 am to 8 am which is the norm here. I plan on kicking back with my local newspaper and trying to understand it. Perhaps finding a link to Project Runway from last night. There are 3 other girls in the longe with me now who also just graduates. They're not going either. 22 is the new 75.

I saw a boy in a Mississippi State sweatshirt today. I stopped and stared but didn't talk to him. He was buying flowers from a street vendor. What a southern gentleman. Otra chiste...

So here's a few more pics. Love to Louisiana, esp the Big BR sin electricidad. Poor MKB is sleeping at work.

-CharStar

This is right across the street. McDonaldization. I should send this to my sociology 315 teacher Dr. O. The Mickey Dee's are quite popular here. They also have McCafe's with just desserts. I haven't been to one. Yet.

This is my building. It's old and pretty. I live on the 3rd floor. There are more students on the 6th floor too. I know there's a tango studio and a salon upstairs somewhere.

This is a protest from yesterday. Because we live on the same street as the Congreso, people are always outside protesting. This one was about teacher salaries and educational funding. Love to Katie and my teacher friends. All of the students ditched school to march. Lots of political activism here.

Zara Chara

2008-09-03T17:31:00.001-07:00

Great day in BA! That rhymes. Loves it. I had class alone with Frederico. We learned irregular preterit verbs and played some numbers games. Que divertido! After class I watched Gossip Girl online again with my friend Lindsay. It was even better the second time. I love Chuck Bass almost more than I love Ross Gellar. Which is a lot.

This afternoon I explored Palermo which is basically the SoHo of BA. Very chill and awesome. We went to the botanical gardens. We also ate in Spanish cafe. I had a tortilla espanola that was delicious and reminded me of fond times in Valencia. I think Valencia is going to have some competition. I am starting to love it here.

I signed up for a wine tasting class so that I can be like Tara when we go out to eat and she tells us about the hints of blackberries and oak.

So, I found Zara. And a huge mall. Like amazingly huge and fancy and awesome. I saw 2 purses I plan on buying. First on my shopping list though are boots. They have shoe stores everywhere and all the boots on sale cost like 80 pesos (like 30 dollars). Oh yes. I shall purchase.

Zara is probably my favorite place in the world. I'm not going to go all Spain style and spend mucho mucho dinero there (plus, it's a bit out of the way unlike in Spain where I passed 3 on my way to school everyday.... I really want to buy just a few nice things to have from Argentina.

I also have decide that I'm going to do some traveling. I never really thought it was possible as South America is huge and trains can't take you from Paris to Amsterdam or whatevs but apparently the buses here are quite nice. I really want to plan to backpack for like 2 weeks at the end. If you have any suggestions holla back.

So I'm the only person here from anywhere remotely Southern. And I'm including Texas, Virginia, and Florida. There's a girl from Missouri and on from Nebraska. My accent is quite the commodity. I thought I was so city chic but oh no.

My Norweigan roomie just came back in and is telling me about cool music. She just asked me what songs I am going to play at my funeral. Gots to go.

Oh and it's really cold here all of a sudden. Hope your humidity is treating you well.

Oh and here are some pics...

My little queendom. I am using my suitcase for a bedside table.

This is the Congreso. It's right down the street. It's built to look just like the US Capitol. Well done.

Settling in.

2008-09-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hola todos! Things in BA are going. I'm getting to know the city better each day. That sounds so poetic. Almost as poetic as I felt while sitting in a coffee shop drinking cafe con leche and reading. It was fun. I like the program I'm in. It's very different than the other times I've studied abroad. Very individualized and independent. I have only seen the whole group one at orientation and will likely not see some of them again. I am getting to know everyone on my floor in the residencia. There are about 10 people in my program on this floor. I haven't mustered up the confidence to canon ball into the water of argentine friends yet. I'll get there soon.

So people here kiss on greeting and saying goodbye. Que horror. I'm not so big on the physical touch of others. I kind of wave the hand wave which my teacher says is quite rude but it is what it is.

I had my first day of class today. It was great - a little basic but great. It was just Frederico, mi profesor, who is probs my age. He looks just like this English TA katie, morgan and I had in college. Crazy curly hair. Kind of like a super skinny Star Trek Johnny Depp. Very entertaining. For the last 2 hours of class it was just me and him. We played a board game that's a cross between boggle and scatagories. It was quite fun!

No one at GIC can understand that my major in college was Spanish. Especially bc I don't speak it all that well. Both Frederico and Delia, the woman from the front desk, have quizzed me about this. I assure them that yes Spanish was what I studied. Eventually I just told them that it was literature (true) and not much actual speaking. I need to find a grad program and get a real major or something.

So after much confusion I still don't have an internship, but I think I am getting an awesome music one. It sounds very edgy and hipster which fits in perfectly with my cool new south american persona (except I did wear a Talbots sweater today which makes my hipster level descend a bit).

I had dinner tonight with 2 girls from my program. At dinner, a man at the next table asked us if we were all from different countries as one was african american, one chinese, and me. I told him we were all from EEUU and that it was a country of many cultures but all live together as one country. USA is A OK. Amer I Can. It was a beautiful moment. I felt like an ambassador. He just looked confused.

US politics are huge here. Obama is in the media everywhere. Along with Sarah Palin and her fam issues.

Love to America. Miss you all.

PS - I just watched Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill premieres online. SO good. It took a lot of links and patience but so worth it. Thanks jesus for sidereel.com.

Triste.

2008-08-31T15:00:00.001-07:00

Hola amigos. I write this to you from my room in the residencia estudiantil. It's a small room, similar to a KD house room. I live with 2 other girls, Carley from St. Louis and a girl from Norway I just met and forgot the name of...

I flew out of Monroe friday evening after some delay. Cried in the airport. Cried on the plane. Got to Houston ready to conquer. Boarded my plane to BA. The man sitting next to me was awesome. His name is Ricardo, He is from BA but not lives in New Jersey and drives a truck for UPS. He used to be a guacho (cowboy) in Argentina. He told me lots of cool stuff about the history and culture of Argentina. We drank some red wine and watched "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" on our the plane.

I got to BA feeling good. I made it through customs easily and found the car service that was to drive me to my dorm. The drive was great. I talked to my driver about the city and stuff. Then he pulled up to some old building and left me with my 100 plus pounds of luggage just standing there. I got in the building and some rando workers tossed my luggage into a tower of terror style elevator and sent me up to the third floor. The doors opened leading to 2 more doors. I had no clue what to do. I eventually just knocked. A small girl let me in. I tried to explain en espanol to her what I was doing here and that I was suposed to move in today etc. She ran off and got her mom who it turns out is kind of like the maid/house mom and I think lives here on our floor.

I met in the kitchen with her and 3 other girls I recognized from my flight. We all paid a security deposit for our keys and then she showed me to my room. A set of bunk beds and a single bed. A desk. A huge refrigerator, and 3 "closets." She told me my romies would be here in a day or so and left me to unpack. I took the single bed. Duh.

It took lots of strategy to fit everything into the "closet" but I did it and then set off to explore my neighborhood.

The Congreso is on the next block. It's basically an exact copy of the US capitol. In front of it is a plaza with some statues and pidgeons and stuff. I also found a grocery store and some cafes.

I came back to my room, took a nap, and woke up around 6 pm. I hadn't had much luck making any friends yet (all my fault, I'm like hermit style in my room with the door closed) so I decided to make my own plans. I got on some website and checked to see what was going on and behold - RENT was playing. Oh yes. My favorite musical/movie/cd ever. It opened at a theater called Konex Cultural Center about a month ago. Anthony Rapp (the original Mark) came to the premiere and everything. So iI couldn't figure out how to but a ticket online so I put on my favorite dress (the busy pattern shirt dress I got at some vintage store a few years ago and love) and headed out to the street. I hailed my first Argentina cab and was off. I got to the theater and bought the best ticket they offer (35 dollars, 9th row - yay peso value). I then had about an hour and a half to kill before the play started. I took off down the street hoping to find a cafe or bar to hang out in. I got out my phone to call MKB and tell her I was alive and going to her favorite musical when all of a sudden this little boy (about 10?) runs up behind me and grabs my Blackberry. I scream and throw my arm at him and look to my left and some older man is reaching for my purse. Oh hell no. I am not getting mugged my first day here. I fought them off and ran away and MKB heard all of this via the phone. I'm sure it was fun for her.

So now I'm really losing it. I jump in the first cab I see and head back to the dorm. I cry for little while and then pull myself together to go have a drink (or 6) and go back to the theater. No robbery was stopping me from seeing Rent in Spanish.

I went to this Italian restaurant on the corner, read my US Weekly I bought in the Houston airport, drank a bottle of red wine and had my own little therapy session. Feeling much better I got in another cab and went to Rent.

It was amazing. Sort of. It was so funny to hear Would You Light my Candle? in Spanish and hear them sing over and over again "No hay mas que hoy" instead of No day but today. The acting was questionable but very entertaining all together. I left the play feeling, as I always do after seeing RENT (this was my 5th time), that the world is not so bad and love is alll you need and the human connection gets us through life blah blah blah. I hailed a cab and came home. Watched a movie on my laptop and fell asleep.

I woke up today to one of my roomies moving in. She goes to Dartmouth and plays tennis and is in a sorority. I think we can be friends. I got dressed and roomie wanted to nap so I headed on a walk of the centro.

I went all the way from Congreso to the Casa Rosada (their White House, but it's pink) and saw some cool buildings and stuff. Then I found Calle Florida, a pedestrian shopping street. Hooray! I found Fallabella, a department store similar to my old dear Spanish friend, the Corte Ingles. They have great bags etc. Loves it.

I continued down the calle and got a coffee and some croissants (in Spanish they are called medialunas, like half moon? get it? they are shaped like moons). It was a joy. Then I walked a different way back home. All in all my adventure took about 5 hours. It was a great afternoon.

Now I'm back at the dorm. Not sure what's going on tonight. People don't eat dinner hear until 9 or later so the night hasn't even begun. I'd be pretty content to get in bed right now and call it a day. My dorm however is like a coed version of Martin/Stockard with lots of squeeling and boys and coedness that I still at 22 think is weird and everyone is all over the place. We'll see. I could go for a good meal and some vino tinto.

I miss everyone! I heard Ole Miss won. Yay. Good luck w Gustav coasties. Love you all.

One More Week

2008-08-22T23:45:00.001-07:00

Hola hola. I'm still in Monroe awaiting my adventure. I've been in Birmingham and Atlanta all week visiting friends. I got to catch up with some college buddies who have started post college life. I'm so glad to finally be starting mine. Sitting at home in my Mom's new house is fabulously calm and I love her cool coffee maker, but I'm ready to get on that plane and go. I've been doing my favorite sort of preparing - shopping. Lots of skinny jeans, sweaters, emo scarves - it's going to be early spring when I arrive - high 80s, low 50s. By the time I leave in December, it will be full on summer.

I've been spending my Funroe time with Caroline. She's leaving for China the same day I go to Argentina. It's fab to have a buddy in preparing - someone to go to Target with, etc. Plus, compared to Shanghai, Buenos Aires seems like Oxford. Not so intimidating. I'll take Spanish over Mandarin.

I've been doing lots of reading about cool places in BA I can't wait to go. There is this huge old ornat theater that's been turned into a bookstore. Can't wait. Also, I finally figured out where my Student Residence is located thanks to my handy dandy new IPOD that has the google map thing on it. It looks like I'm about 2 blocks from Congress and in a decent location. I'll be in a room with 2 other girls. Not sure if they're American or from Argentina or Egypt. We shall see.

I know it's shallow, but I'm so looking forward to typing on my MAC, sipping cafe con leches, and wearing trendy things I'd never wear here in the estados. Whatever. I'm not ashamed.

Off to watch 7 hours more of Weeds.

-Char

Vamos.

2008-08-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos. In attempt to keep in contact with everyone while I reside in Buenos Aires and because Melissa's Au Pair Diaries have been quite an inspiration, I blog. I'll try to keep it as entertaining and educational as possible. If I don't post too frequently, rest assured that it's because I actually found some friends and a life in Argentina. If my posts are quite long and pensive, don't fret because it's only 4 months.
The plan is to leave Funroe on August 29 and return to Funroe on December 22. I have cashed in all of Brucie's frequent flyer miles to go on this little excursion. I hope it's worth it. My main goals are to dominate the Spanish language, understand the culture, survive, and buy an awesome purse.
I'll be in language school for the first month. I know what you're all thinking. You majored in Spanish but still need language school? Yes I do. Thanks Ole Miss. Once they (GIC Argentina, the program I found online in a midnight google quest to not have to answer "I'm not really sure yet" to everyone who asks what I'm doing after graduation) think I'm fluent enough, I'm supposed to start an internship. This internship is yet to be decided. Possibly media or business or entertainment or tourism. At one point, GIC emailed me about working at a male modeling agency, so who really knows.
I am a tad bit worried that this program/school doesn't actually exist or something. I've done everything online. Keep your fingers crossed that when I get to Argentina, I actually have a school to go to.
I'll be living in a student Residence which is basically a fancy dorm from what I can gather. No more host families for me (peace out abuelos). I may be in a room alone or with up to 4 others.

That's all for now. Off to enjoy the Olympics and Breaking Dawn for a few hours.

Adios.
Carlotta